abbé
/ˈabeɪ
/ /abe/noun
(In France) an abbot or other cleric: the abbé was his confessor [as title]: Abbé Pierre...
- In France their leader was the abbé Jules Lemire, who was elected to parliament from a Flemish constituency in 1893.
- He attended the Jesuit College in Amiens, studying under the abbé Jacques Delille who was a poet and classicist.
- It is possible to detect the influence of Jansenism through the presence of two leading draftsmen of the Civil Constitution, abbés Grégoire and Camus.
Origin
Mid 16th century: French, from ecclesiastical Latin abbas, abbat- (see abbot).