Auger, Edmund

, a French Jesuit, was born in 1530, at Allernan, a village in the diocese of Troyes, and became noted for his extraordinary skill in the conversion of heretics, that is, llugonots, or Protestants, of whom he is said to have recovered many thousands to the church. He was often in danger from his unsought services, and was once narrowly saved from the gallows by a minister of the reformed church, who hoped to gain him over to his party. This, however, only served to excite his ardour in the cause of proselytism, and he distinguished himself very remarkably at Lyons during the ravages of the plague. Henry III. appointed him to be his preacher and confessor, the first time in which this latter honour had been conferred. He was, however, either so conscientious or so unfortunate as neither to gain the affections of his prince, nor to preserve the good opinion and confidence of the Jesuits. After the death of Henry III. his superiors recalled him to Italy, and sent him from house to house, where he was considered as an excommunicated person, travelling on foot in the depth of winter; and of such fatigues he died in the sixty-first year of his age, in 1591. He wrote some controversial works in a very intemperate style. One of his pieces was published in 1568, under the title of “Pedagogue d‘armes a un Prince Chretien, pour entreprendre et achever heureusement une bonne guerre, victorieuse de tous les ennemis de son etat et de l’eglise.” Father Dorigny published the life of Auger in 1716, 12mo. ²