Jules Mascaron

Jules Mascaron (1634–1703) was a popular French preacher. He was born in Marseille as the son of a barrister at Aix-en-Provence. He entered the Oratory of Jesus early and became reputed as a preacher. Paris confirmed the judgment of the provinces; in 1666 he was asked to preach before the court and became a favourite of Louis XIV, who said that his eloquence was one of the few things that never grew old.^[1]

In 1671, he was appointed the bishop of Tulle; eight years later he was transferred to the larger diocese of Agen. He still continued to preach regularly at court, especially for funeral orations. A panegyric on Turenne, delivered in 1675, is considered to be his masterpiece. His style is strongly tinged with préciosité and his chief surviving interest is as a glaring example of the evils from which Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet delivered the French pulpit.^[1]

During his later years, he devoted himself entirely to his pastoral duties at Agen where he died in 1703.^[1]

Six of his most famous sermons were edited, with a biographical sketch of their author, by the Oratorian Borde in 1704.^[1] One his most famous books, which went into several editions, was La Mort et les Dernieres Paroles de Seneque Lyon, 1653. A critical quote concerning Girolamo Cardano's book praising Nero can be found in Nero: An Exemplary Life by Inkstone, 2012.^{[citation needed]}