Rabanus Maurus. See Rhabanus.
Rabardeau, Michel, a French Jesuit, was born at Orleans in 1572. and became a member of the order in 1595. He had enjoyed the very best educational facil- ities, and was therefore employed by the Society in its schools, lie taught philosophy and moral theology, and became successively rector of Bourges and of Amiens. He died at Paris in 1649. He is celebrated especially for his mastery of casuistry and his intimate knowledge of the canon law. In the domain of the latter he displayed his power in 104n, when Hersaul the ( hratorian sought a schism in the Church of France by his work Optati Galli de Cavendo Schismate, after cardinal Richelieu had attempted the assumption of the patriarchate. Rabardeau, in his Optatus Gallus /■'• nigno Manu Sectus (Paris, L641, 4to), defended the cardinal, and tried to prove that such an assumption bore in it no trace of a schism, as the patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople in nowise interfered with the power of the Roman papacy and its supreme authority. Of course, at Rome the book was displeasing, and was put into the ///</<r. See Sotwell, Bibl, Scriptor. Xoc. Jesu. — Hoefer, Nouv. />i<>;/. Generate, s. v.
Rabat is a linen neck-collar worn by ecclesiastics.
Rabaudy, Bernard de, a French theologian, was bom in 1681, at Toulouse, of an ancient noble family. At an early age he took the monastic vow with the Do- minicans, and. al'ter having completed his education, he taught at Limoges and in the University of Toulouse. In 1706 he was nominated superintendent of the order in France, and in 17 1 * » was made successor to the gener- al of the order in a professorship at Toulouse. He diet! there Nov.3, 1731. He wrote, Exercitationes Theologica (Toul. 171 !. 2 vols. 8vo), and Quassliones de Deo Una (ibid. 1718, 8vo). See Echard, Bibl Script. Ord. Pra- dicat. vol. ii. Hoefer, Nouv. Biog, Generate, a. v.
Rabaut, Paul, a French Protestant dn ine, who was a martyr to the cause of true Christianity in France, was bom at Be'darieux, mar Montpelier, in 1718. lie was educated at tin- seminary in Lausanne for the holy office of the ministry, ami became one of the "Preachers of the Desert," among whom he soon ranked a- i i r - 1 in many respects. In L743 hi was made pastor of the Re- formed Cburch at Nismes, and there became the leader of French Protestantism. This was a time of persecu- tion indeed. The government of Louis XV had taken
up anew the task of rooting out the heretical doctrines which had flourished their banner in the face of the very man who had given authority to his government by saying •• I.', tut <■'<.<! moi." In -pile of all opposition, and in the face of a host of plotting enemies, Rabaut main- tained his position, ami in 17s.", he was even emerited. lint in 1793, when the great Revolution succeeded, he was arrested as a traitor, and only gained bis freedom in
1794 by the reversal of the 9th Thermidor. lie died shortly alter (Sept. 25, 1794). Rabaut took part in the Reform National Synod of 1711. and was presiding offi- cer Of that in 1763; ami although his heterodox views on many important points made him a pronounced Chiliast in doctrine and an Episcopalian in government, he was yet so greatly revered for his fortitude, consist- ency, frankness, and devotion to Protestantism that his leadership was never rejected, hut always gladly ac- cepted by the Huguenot successors. He was not a great man. His education was moderate, his power in the pulpit ordinary. It was hi- sterling qualities of charac- ter that made him a leader in the [arael off ranee. His eldest son, Paul, also called St. Etienne, who was born in 1743, and was both preacher and lawyer, distinguished himself as a leader of the Revolution, to which both he and his wife fell martyrs. Ii was his influence that carried through the National Council religious equality for all France. His novel Triompht d* VInto? lerance (Lond. 1779; republished at Paris in 1820 and 1826 under the title /.« Vieux Cevenol) is important for the history of French Protestantism. Another son (the second), Antoine R.-1'ommier. who was horn Oct 24, 1711. was also a preacher, and likewise distinguished himself in the Revolution. He finally entered the civil service, but in 1815 he was obliged to quit France on account of his having voted for the execution of Louis XVI, and was only allowed to return in 1818. He died at Paris in 1820. He published Amtuain Ecclesiastkpu . a VUsagt des trois Seances sur /'. /,'. et les Prot. Fran- caisau XYIIb Siecle (Lausanne, bs.'>!u. See New York Nation, xviii, 2<'>7; L<<nA,<n Academy, Aug. 1, 1874, p. 119; Dc Felice. Hist, of the French Protestants, p. lit!. 451,462; Register, Studien u.Kritiken,1838 17: Smith. Hist, oftht Huguenots; Bridel, Sketches of Paul Rabaut ini,l tin French Protestants of the 18th Century (transl. from the French, with an Appendix containing portions of Paul Rabaut's writings now first published [Lond. L861, 12mo]). (J.II.W.)
Rab'bah (Heb. Rabbah', ft3^), the name of sever- al ancient places both east and west of the Jordan, al- though ii appears in this form in connection with only two in the A. V. The root is rut,, meaning much, and hence great, whether in size or importance (Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 1254; Furst, Handworterb. ii. 347). The word survives in Arabic as a common appellative, ami is also in use as the name of places — e. g. Rabba, on the