Tlie Peratte appear to have been a local sect, and their peculiar yviixm: was a recondite philosophy found- ed on theories associati'd with the constellations of as- tronomers, and on serpent-worship. Hippol3'tus saj-s that they and their doctrine had lieen verj' little known initil he described them, and that the latter were so in- tricate that it was difficult to give a compendious no- tion of them. But, after stating manj- details of their strange system, he goes on to sum it up in the fol- lowing terms, which make it evident that their system was only a modification of the general Ophitic notions. They held tliat the universe is Father, Son, and jMat- ter, each of the three having endless capacities in it- self; intermediate between Matter and the Father sits the Son — the Logos, the Serpent — always being in mo- tion towards the unnioving Father and towards mov- ing jMatter. At one time the Son is turned towards the Father, and receives powers into his own person ; at another time he takes up these powers, and turns towards Matter. Then Matter, devoid of attribute, and being unfashioned, moulds itself into forms from the Son, which the Son moulded from the Father. They believed, further, in a Demiurge, who works de- struction and death, and that men could be saved from his power only through tlie Son, who is the Serpent. In addition to this fundamental corruption of Chris- tianity, the Perata; had also many secret mysteries, which Hippolytus says could not be mentioned by him on account of their profanit_y {Philosoph. v, 7-13 ; X, 6). See Baxmann, in lllgen's Zeitschr.f. historische Theologie, 18G0 ; Taylor, Jlippolijtus, p. 84 ; Ueberweg, Ilist. ofPhilos. i, 280-285. (.1.11. A\'.)
Perault (or, better, Peyraud), Guillaume, a French prelate, was born about 111)0 in Peyraud, a village of Vivarais, then in the diocese of Vienna, now in the department of Ardeclie. Doctor of tlio Uni- versity of Paris, Guillaume entsred quite young the ' Order of St. Dominic, and soon acquired a general es-;
teem by the purity of his manners, by his doctrines, and by his talents in the pulpit. Philip of Savoy, who, without having received orders, was elected in 1246 archbishop of Lj'ons, chose him for suffragan bishop, and Guillaume, clothed with a title i7i partibus, per- formed episcopal duties in the diocese for more than ten years, which has led into error Leandro Alberti, Altamura, and Severt, who have placed him among the archbishops of Lyons. Perault died at Lyons in 1255. We have of his works, Sunima de vkiis et virtu- tibus, of which the last edition (Paris, 1663, 4to) is a work much praised by Gerson : — Commentarium de Re- gula Sancii Benedicti (1500, 8vo) ; printed Avithout name of place, year, or printer, and attributed in a MS. to William of Poitiers : — a treatise, De cruditione reli- glosorum; often printed at Paris, Lj'ons, and elsewhere, and which appeared under the name of Imbert, general of the Dominicans: — a collection of sermons De di- versis et dejestis, of which more than twelve editions have been published ; the last at Orleans, 1674, 8vo : — a treatise, De eruditione Prindpum, printed for the first time at Kome, 1570, 8vo. A treatise entitled Virtutum vitiorumque eximpla has been wrongly attributed to Guillaume Perault ; it is by Kicolas de Hanappes, patriarch of .Jerusalem. See Echard, Scriptor. ordin. Prcedic. i, 132 ; Touron, JJommes illust. de Vordre de Saint Dominique ; Gallia Christ, vol. v. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxxix, 555.
Perault, Raimond, a French cardinal, was born May 28, 1435, at Surgeres (Saintonge). The son of poor artisans, he was first a school-teacher in his own village, then at La Eochelle, and, thanks to some ben- efactors, he entered as burser the College of Navarre, in Paris. Received as doctor, and appointed prior of Saint-Gilles at Surgeres, he went to Rome, and ren- dered himself useful to popes Paul II, Sextus IV^, and Innocent VIII. The latter sent him in 1487 to Germany to collect the alms designed for the expenses of the war against the Turks, and, although this nunciatory had not gained for himself much honor, Raimond was nevertheless rewarded for his travels and labors bj' the bishopric of Gurck, in Carinthia. Alexander VI made him a cardinal in September, 1493, on the rec- ommendation of king Charles YIII, and it was he who, in the name of this prince, signed at Rome, Sept. 6, 1494, the act of donation or cession of the empire of Constantinople, made to France by Andreas Paleolo- gus, prince of Romania, sole heir of the empire. His favorable inclinations towards France, his native land, appeared particularly on the occasion of the war of Naples, when he raised his voice to complain of the intrigues and the odious conduct of Alexander VI on the subject of prince Zizim, son of Mohammed II. Cardinal Perault obtained in 1503 the bishopric of Saintes, where he never resided, and was appointed by Julius II legate of the patrimon}' of St. Peter. Tlie favor which he enjoA'cd witli the different pupes ex- cited jealous}- against him ; also, certain authors have treated him very ill ; others, on the contrary, have bestowed the greatest praises upon his probity and manners. He died at Viterbo Sept. 5, 1505. He has left, among others, works entitled De dignitate sacerdo- tali super omnes reges : — De Actis suis Lubeci et in Dn- nia Episfolce: — different Harangues. See Gallia Chris- tiana, vol. ii ; Ungues du Teurs, Le Clerge de Fr. vol. ii ; Auberj', Hist, des Cardin. ; Berthier, Hist, de V Egl. Gallic, vol. xvii ; Briand, Hist, de VEglise Santone et Atinisienne, vol. ii. — Hoefer, Xoite. Biog. Generale, xxxix, 555.