Leon Bloy late-19th- and early-20th-century novelist Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald – counter-revolutionary philosophical writer Jacques-Benigne Bossuet 17th-century bishop, preacher and master of French prose; wrote famous funeral orations and doctrinal works Pierre Boulle writer; novels include The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963) Paul Bourget novelist Pierre Boutang Pauline Cassin Caro (1828/34/35–1901), novelist Jean Pierre de Caussade – Jesuit and spiritual writer The Vicomte de Chateaubriand – founder of Romanticism in French literature; returned to the Catholic faith of his 1790s boyhood; wrote apologetic for Christianity, "Génie du christianisme" ("The Genius of Christianity"), which contributed to a post-Revolutionary revival of Catholicism in France Paul Claudel devout Catholic poet; a leading figure in French poetry of the early 20th century; author of verse dramas focusing on religious themes François Coppée Pierre Corneille – the founder of French tragedy; Jesuit-educated; translated The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis, into French verse Léon Daudet René Descartes – one of the most famous philosophers in the world; dubbed the father of modern philosophy; much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day; also a mathematician and a scientist. Pierre Duhem late-19th-century physicist, historian and philosopher of physics Saint Francis de Sales – Bishop of Geneva from 1602 to 1622; a Doctor of the Church; wrote classic devotional works, e.g., Introduction à la vie dévote (Introduction to the Devout Life) and Traité de l' Amour de Dieu (Treatise on the Love of God); Pope Pius XI proclaimed him patron saint of writers and journalists François Fénelon – late-17th- and early-18th-century writer and archbishop; some of his writings were condemned as Quietist by Pope Innocent XII; he obediently submitted to the judgment of the Holy See Pauline Fréchette (1889-1943), poet, dramatist, journalist, nun Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange – neo-Thomist theologian Henri Ghéon – French poet and critic; his experiences as an army doctor during the First World War saw him regain his Catholic faith (as described in his work "L'homme né de la guerre", "The Man Born Out of the War"); from then on much of his work portrays episodes from the lives of the saints Étienne Gilson philosophical and historical writer and leading neo-Thomist René Girard – historian, literary critic and philosopher Julien Green – novelist and diarist; convert from Protestantism; A devout Catholic, most of his books focused on the ideas