Gerbais, John

, a learned French ecclesiastic, was born in 1629, at a village in the diocese of Rheims. He was admitted a doctor of the Sorbonne in 1661, chosen professor of rhetoric at the royal college in 1662, and was afterwards principal of the college at Rheims, where, by his will, he founded two scholarships. He died April 14, 1699, leaving several works in Latin and French; the principal are, a treatise “De Causis Majoribus,” 1691, 4to, in which he maintains that episcopal causes ought to be first judged by the metropolitan, and the bishops in his province. Innocent XL condemned this work in 168O. A treatise on the authority of kings over marriages, 1690, 4to; three letters “Sur le pecule des Religieux,” 1698, 12mo; a translation of the treatise by Panormus on the council of Basil, 8vo “Lettre sur la Comedie,” 12mo; “Lettre sur les Dorures et le Luxe des Habks des Femmes,” 12mo 3 &c. All the works of this author | discover lively wit, great strength and solidity of reasoning, with much penetration and deep learning. He was chosen by the French clergy to publish the edition of “Rules” respecting the Regulars, with M. Hallier’s notes, 1665, 4to. ¹