Pontard, Pierre, a French prelate, was horn at Mussidan Sept 23, 174!*. He was curate of Sarlat when the Revolution broke out. He then embraced the new principles with an enthusiasm that was rewarded by his appointment as constitutional bishop of the Dordogne in 17!H. A few months later he was elected deputy of this department to the Legislative Assembly. He spoke in favor of divorce, attacked the dogmas of the Catholic Church, authorized the marriage of priests, and finally took a wife himself. It is this same Pontard who in- duced the visionary Suzanne Labrousse to go to Paris. Under the consulate he kepi a hoarding-school at Paris, hul his institution waned after a lew years. lie was intimate with l'igault-Lehrim. and aided him. if the report be true, in the composition of some of his novels. Alter the Restoration, the duchess-dowager of Orleans, to whom he had rendered some services during the Reign of Terror, on hearing of his precarious situation, bestowed on him a life-rent, which enabled him to ent< r the institution of St, Perine al Chaillot, where he died.
without apparent c trition, dan. 22, 1832. He left,
Recueil des Ouvrages */• la cilebre Mile. Labrousst | Bor- deaux, I7'.i7. 8vo) : — Grammairi Mecanique elementaire i/, VOrthograph Francaist (Paris, 1812, 8vo). !!<■ is also the author of the Journal prophetique, which was edited al Paris in 1792 and 1793.— Hoefer, A. Generate, s. v.
Pontas, Jean, a French prelate, was horn Dec. 81, 1 tills, at Saint-Hilairc-dii-Harcouet (diocese of Avran- ches). Brought up by his maternal uncle, M. d'Arque-
PONT-AUDEMER
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ville, he studied successively under his eyes in his na- tive city, then at the Jesuits' College of Kennes, finally in Paris at the College de Navarre. In 1663 he re- ceived, for reasons unknown, in the space of ten days, all the orders, inclusive of that of priesthood, from the bishop of Toul, with the consent of the bishop of Av- ranches. lie was scarcely twenty-four years old. In 1668 he obtained the titles of doctor of canon and of civil law. The archbishop of Paris, Pere'fine, appointed him vicar of the parish of Sainte-Ge'nevieve-des-Ar- dents, an easy place, which left him time enough for his learned pursuits. He next became sub-penitentiary of Notre Dame, and retired to the Petits-Augustins of the faubourg Saint-Germain, where he died, April 27, 1728. His principal work is the Dictionnaire des Cas de Con- science (Paris, 1741, 3 vols. fob). It is the completest on this subject, in the treatment of which Pontas dis- played uncommon sagacity and great caution. His decisions, founded on imposing authorities, are equally distant from loose morality and narrow rigorism — a twofold danger which works of this description sel- dom avoid altogether. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, s. v.
Pont - Atidemer, Council of {Concilium Pons- audemarense'), an ecclesiastical council, was held in 1279 by William de Flavecour, archbishop of Rouen, who presided ; twenty-four canons were published. Among these :
5. Recommends the observance of the canons of Lat- erau ("omnes ntrinsque sexus") upon confessiou and communion.
1). Forbids Christians to dwell with Jews.
10. Forbids the keeping of vigils and assemblies, and all dancing, in churches and churchyards.
10. Forbids rural deans to deliver any sentence of ex- communication or suspension, unless in writing.
23. Forbids all those of the clergy who have taken the cross to abuse the privileges granted to them. See Labbe, Condi, xi, 1144.
Pontbriant, Henri -Guillaume- Marie, Dt Breil de, brother of the two following, was born at Kennes in 1709. He was a canon, grand chantre of the cathedral of Kennes, and abbe of Lanvaux, in the diocese of Vannes. He died at Kennes in 1767. He left, Poeme sur I'Abus de la Poesie, crowned at the Jeux Floraux in 1722 : — Sermon sur le Sacre du Roi (Toulouse, 1722, 4to) :—Essai de Grammaire Frdncaise (1754, 8vo) : — Projet d'une Histoire de Bretagne depuis 1567 jusqiCen 1754 (Kennes, 1754, fol.). — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, s. v.
Pontbriant, Henri-Marie, Du Breil i>e, broth- er of the preceding, was born at Vannes in 1711. He was cation of Kennes. He early entered ecclesiasti- cal life, and after several promotions was made bishop of Quebec, April 9, 1741. He set out for Quebec shortly after, and arrived there Aug. 17. He died at Montreal (Canada) June 29, 1760. A pastoral letter which he issued on the approach of the English to Quebec in 1759 is in Smith's Hist, of Canada.
Pontbriant, Rene-Prangois, Du Breil de, a French priest, was born at Kennes near the opening of the 18th century. Appointed abbe of Saint-Marien- d'Auxerre, he was one of the most zealous promoters of the institution of the Pet its-Savoyards. The first idea of that institution is due to the abbe Joly, canon of Dijon, who founded at Paris, towards 1665, in the in- terest of those poor children, an establishment which, taken up by Claude Helyet, could not support itself af- ter his death in 1686. The abbe of Pontbriant, touched with pity at the sight of the misery of those poor lit- tle Savoyards, came to their help towards 1737, and de- voted to them during the remainder of his life his time, his energies, and his fortune. The abbe de Fe- nelon, who died on the revolutionary scaffold in 1794, succeeded him in this task. Pontbriant died in 1760. He left, Projet d'un Etablissement deja commence pour elever dans la Piete les petits Savoyards qui sunt dans Paris, with several appendices (Paris, 1735-43, 4 parts,