Villefore, Joseph Francis Bourgoin De

, a French biographer, was born December 24, 1652, at Paris, and was the son of James Bourgoin, king’s counsellor, and hereditary judge and warden of the mint in that city. He spent some years in the community of gentlemen established in the parish of St. Sulpice, with a view of concealing himself from the world, and having more leisure for study; but his merit discovered him, and he was admitted into the academy of inscriptions in 1706. In 1708, however, he voluntarily withdrew from this academy, alleging, as an excuse, that his health would not permit him to perform the duties of it. He retired afterwards to a small apartment in the cloisters of the Metropolitan church, and there passed the rest of his life, contented with a little, free from ambition, employed in study and prayer, and enjoying the society of a small number of select friends. He continued a layman, but neither married, nor held any office in the state. He died December 2, 1737, aged eighty-five, leaving a great number of biographical works, translations, and small pieces. His biographical productions are, “The Life of St. Bernard,” 4to; “The Lives of the Holy Fathers of the Deserts in the East and West,” 5 vols. 12mo; “The Life of St. Theresa,” with “Select Letters” of the same Saint, 4to, and 2 vols. 12mo; |

“Anecdotes and secret Memoirs concerning the constitution Unigenitus,” 3 vols. 12mo; but this work was suppressed by a decree of council, as well as the “Refutation” of it, written by M. Peter Francis Lafitau, bishop of Sisteron; “The Life of Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, duchess de Longueville,” the best edition of which is Amsterdam, 1739, 2 torn. 8vo. M. de Villefore’s translations are, several of St, Augustine’s, St. Bernard’s, and Cicero’s works, all said to be faithfully executed. ¹