Bernard, Claude
BERNARD, CLAUDE: Called the "poor priest"
and "Father Bernard"; b. in Dijon Dec. 23, 1588;
d. at Paris Mar. 23, 1641. He was the son of a
jurist, studied law himself, and for a time led a life
68of pleasure, but was converted by what he believed
was a vision of his departed father. He became
a priest and made Paris his residence, where he
spent his time preaching and visiting the poor and
sick, not shrinking from the most disgusting diseases. He gave away all that he had, including
an inheritance of 400,000 francs.