Rapin, René, French Jesuit, b. at Tours, 1621; d. in Paris, 1687. He entered the Society in 1639, taught rhetoric, and wrote extensively both in verse and prose. His first production, “Hcloge Sacræ” (Paris, 1659), won him the title of the Second Theocritus, and his poem on gardens, ‘“ Hortorum libri IV” (Paris, 1665), twice translated into English (London, 1673; Cambridge, 1706), placed him among the foremost Latin versifiers. Of his critical essays, the best known are: “Observations sur les poémes d’Horace et de Virgile” (Paris, 1669); “Réflexions sur l’usage de l’éloquence de ce temps” (Paris, 1672); ‘“Réflexions sur la poétique d’Aristote et sur les ouvrages des poétes anciens et modernes” (Paris, 1676). He is also the author of several theological and ascetic treatises like “De nova doctrina dissertatio seu Evangelium Jansenistarum” (Paris, 1656); “L’esprit du christianisme” (Paris, 1672); “La perfection du christianisme” (Paris, 1673); “La foi des derniers siécles” (Paris, 1679). These books and many other pamphlets were collected in ‘“Oeuvres complétes” published at Amsterdam, 1709-10. Rapin’s best titles to celebrity are his two posthumous works: ‘Histoire du jansénisme”, edited by Domenech (Paris, 1861), and “Mémoires sur l’église, la société, la cour, la ville et le jansénisme”, edited by Aubineau (Paris, 1865). The latter book is the counterpart of the Jansenistic “Mémoires de Godefroi Hermant sur lhistoire ecclésiastique du XVII°∗ siécle”, edited by Gazier (Paris, 1905). Ste-Beuve in his “Port Royal” tries on every occasion to find Rapin at fault, but recent studies on Jansenism show that he is, in the main, reliable.
Dersou, De Renato Rapino (Paris, 1881); Ausineau, Le P. Rapin et ses mémoires inédits in Revue du monde catholique (Paris, 1864); Hurter, Nomenclator II (Innsbruck, 1892), 447; Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jésus (Paris, 1895), VI, 1443; Srn-Bruve, Port Royal, VII (Paris, 1900), index.
J. F. Sollier.