Mascaron, Jules (1634-1703). Court preacher under Louis XIV and, like Massillon, an Oratorian. Between the mid-1660s and the mid-1690s he gave no fewer than six Advent and four Lent series of sermons before the king. He was also a popular funeral orator, best remembered for his orations for Anne d'Autriche (1666) and Turenne (1676). Only the latter was published in his lifetime; and since a mere selection of his work was posthumously printed on the basis of notes, his reputation rests largely on the good opinion of his contemporaries, notably Madame de Sévigné. He was appointed bishop of Tulle in 1671 and translated to Agen in 1680.

[Peter Bayley]

The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.