LANGUET, John-Baptist-Joseph, a doctor of the Sorbonne, was born at Dijon in 1675. He was received into the Sorbonne in 1698, and attached himself to the community of St Sulpice, to which parish he rendered important service. M. de la Chétardie, the vicar, conscious of his talents, chose him as his curate, in which capacity he officiated for nearly ten years, and in 1714 succeeded to the vicarage. His parish church being small and out of repair, he conceived the design of building a church suitable to the size of the parish, which he began with the sum of a hundred crowns, but soon obtained considerable donations; and the Duke of Orleans, regent of the kingdom, granted him a lottery, and laid the first stone of the porch in 1718. It was consecrated in 1745. M. Languet having spared neither labour nor expense to render it one of the finest churches in the world, both for architecture and ornament. Another work which did him no less honour was the Maison de l'enfant Jésus. This establishment consisted of two parts; the first composed of about thirty-five poor ladies of good families, and the second of more than 400 poor women and children of town and country. The order and economy in this house, for the education and employment of so many persons, gave Cardinal Fleury so high an idea of the vicar of St Sulpice, that he proposed to make him superintendent-general of all the hospitals in the kingdom; an appointment, however, which he declined. M. Languet was not only singular in this warm, disinterested, and benevolent conduct, but also in other circumstances equally rare, namely, the refusal of several bishoprics which were offered him. He even resigned his vicarage in 1748, but continued to preach every Sunday at his own parish church, and to support the Maison de l'enfant Jésus, to his death, which happened in 1750.