Jean de Roquetaillade

Jean de Roquetaillade ^[1] (date of birth unknown; d. probably at Avignon, 1362) was a French Franciscan alchemist.^[2]

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After studying philosophy for five years at Toulouse, he entered the Franciscan monastery at Orléans, where he continued his studies for five years longer.

His experiments in distillation led to the discovery of what he termed aqua vitæ, or usually quinta essentia, and commended as a panacea for all disease. His work as an alchemist forms the subject-matter of De consideratione quintæ essentiæ (Basle, 1561) and De extractione quintæ essentiæ; likewise Libellus de conficiendo vero lapide philosophico ad sublevandam inopiam papæ et cleri in tempore tribulationis (Strasburg, 1659).

His false prophecies and violent denunciation of ecclesiastical abuses brought him into disfavour with his superiors, resulting in his imprisonment by Pope Clement VI (1345) and Pope Innocent VI (1356). While there he wrote in 1349 his Visiones seu revelationes, and in 1356 Vade Mecum in tribulatione and Ostensor^[3]. His other works include commentaries on the Sentences and on the Oraculum Cyrilli, Fragmenta revelationum, Apologus propheticus, De famulatu philosophiæ ad theologiam.

References

• Sbaralea, Suppl. ad script. Ord. Min. (Rome, 1806);
• Jeiler in Kirchenlex., under Johannes von Roquetaillade
• Schnürer in Kirchliches Handlexikon

Notes

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.