Abbé de Montfaucon de Villars

The Abbé de Montfaucon de Villars (1635 to 1673) was a French churchman, writer and mystic born in Alet, near Toulouse. He took holy orders early and moved to Paris in 1667, hoping to win fame as a preacher. His most important book is Comte de Gabalis (1670), published anonymously, which presents itself as a novel but works largely as satire, mixing history, philosophy and mysticism in ways that conflicted with Catholic doctrine. In 1671 he published De la Délicatesse, a dialogue opposing Jansenist teaching. He was murdered on the road near Lyon in 1673, and a sequel, Nouveaux Entretiens sur les sciences secrètes, appeared in 1715.