Petavius, Dionysius

Related Category: Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches: General Biographies

(dīōnĭsh´ēəs pētā´vēəs), Fr. Denys Pétau, 1583–1652, French Jesuit theologian and philologist. His editions of late-Greek theological works are still important. His chief work (incomplete), on Christian doctrine, was bold in imputing slight unorthodoxy to certain Fathers of the Church and a Jansenist tinge to St. Augustine.