Billi, James De

, was born at Guise in Picardy, of which place his father was governor, in 1535, and died at Paris at the house of Genebrard his friend, the 25th of December 1581. He presided over the abbey of St. Michel en PLerm, which John his brother had ceded to him in order to become a Carthusian monk. There are of his several pieces both in verse and prose; and especially translations of the Greek fathers into Latin. The most esteemed of them are, those of St. Gregory of Nazianzen, of St. Isidore of Pelusium, and of St. John Damascenus. Few of the learned have been more masters of the Greek tongue. He distinguished himself in other departments of literature. He composed several pieces of French poetry, 1576, in 8vo, and published learned “Observationes sacrse,” 1585, in folio. His life was written in Latin by Chatard, Paris, 1582, in 4to. It is also found at the end of the works of St. Gregory Nazianzenus, of the edition of 1583. ²