Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant, known asle Père Bougeant (4 November 1690,Quimper,Brittany – 17 January 1743,Paris) was a French Jesuit and historian.
Bougeant entered theSociety of Jesus in 1706, taughtclassics in the College ofCaen and Nevers and lived for a number of years in Paris until his death. HisAmusement philosophique sur le language des bêtes (Philosophical Amusements on the Language of the Animals), published in 1737, attracted the censure of his superiors, leading to his brief exile from Paris. It was translated into English, Italian, and German.[1]
His historical works on theThirty Years' War and on theTreaty of Westphalia have been regarded as among the best historical books written by Jesuits. They were translated into German. He is also the author of a theological treatise on the form of consecration of theEucharist, and of aCatechism divided into three parts, historical, dogmatic, and practical. Thiscatechism, translated into Italian and German, went through many editions and was still in use in 1900. In his three comedies,Le Femme Docteur,Le Saint déniché, andLes Quakres français he satirizes theJansenists. The first of the three went through twenty-five editions in a few months, and was translated into Italian, Polish, Spanish, and Dutch. Between 1725 and 1737 he contributed many articles to theMémoires de Trévoux.
L'Amusement philosophique sur le langage des Bites, which had then just appeared, was the work of the Jesuit scribbler Guillaume Hyacinthe Bougeant (1690–1743), who was banished to La Heche for writing it, almost immediately after Gray ...
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.