Augustin Calmet

Antoine Augustin Calmet, O.S.B. (26 February 1672 – 25 October 1757), a French Benedictine monk, was born at Ménil-la-Horgne, then in the Duchy of Bar, part of the Holy Roman Empire (now the French department of Meuse, located in the region of Lorraine). Calmet was a monk, a learned man, and one of the most distinguished members of the Congregation of St. Vanne. In recognition of these qualities, he was elected before of Lay-Saint-Christophe in 1715, Abbot of St-Léopold at Nancy in 1718, and Senones Abbey in 1729. 

He was twice entrusted with the office of Abbot General of the congregation. Pope Benedict XIII wished to confer episcopal dignity upon him, but his humility could not be brought to accept the honor. Calmet died at Senones Abbey, in the Vosges, near Saint-Dié, on 25 October 1757. Augustin Calmet was born on 26 February 1672, in Ménil-la-Horgne, near Commercy in the Lorraine, to the modest family of Antoine Calmet. His father was a blacksmith. After entering the Benedictine priory at Breuil at the age of 15, he attended the University of Pont-à-Mousson. 

He studied rhetoric under the Jesuit father Ignace de L’Aubrussel (later the confessor to the Queen of Spain). At the end of these studies, he joined the Benedictine order of the Congregation of Saint-Vanne and St. Hydulphe. His novitiate was made to the St. Mansuy Abbey Toul, where he took monastic vows on 23 October 1689. He was then sent to study philosophy at St. Èvre Abbey and theology at Munster Abbey.

He was ordained into the Priesthood on 1 March 1696 in Arlesheim near Basel and said his first Mass in the Abbey of Munster on 24 April 1696. He was commissioned to explain the holy scriptures in the Abbey of Moyenmoutier and Munster Abbey (1704) and was appointed prior to Lay-Saint-Christophe (1714–1715). He became abbot of St. Leopold Nancy (1718). He went through the various monasteries of his order, devouring libraries and writing many historical compilations. 

In 1728, Calmet was called a priest of Senones Saint-Pierre Abbey, the capital of the Principality of Salm. In the great abbey Vosges, he worked and lived the last part of his life, maintaining a correspondence with many scientists and remaining there until his death on 25 October 1757. There are squares that bear his name in Commercy and Senones. There is also a Dom-Calmet Street in downtown Nancy since the late 19th century, and a street of Metz in the Sablon district has borne his name since 1934. His monument is erected in St. Peter's Abbey Senones and includes a list of his works.