FROMENT, frō"mān', ANTOINE: One of the men who introduced the Reformation in Geneva; b. at Mens (25 m. s. of Grenoble), in Dauphiné, 1508; d. in Geneva Nov. 6, 1581. From 1529 he accompanied Guillaume Farel, the pioneer of the Reformed faith and preached the Gospel in western Switzerland. On Nov. 3, 1532, he went to Geneva, where the Evangelicals were still few and timid. He opened a school, and advertised that “a man had come who within a month would teach every one, men and women, great and small, to read French and to write, even if they had never been to school"; if any one did not learn in that space of time, he should have nothing to pay; also he would heal many sicknesses gratuitously. Froment was a capital teacher; he used the Bible as a text-book and crowds of people, old and young, came to him. On New Year's Day, 1533, so many wished to hear him that he was compelled to preach in the market-place. Taking Matt. vii. 15-16 as his text, he criticized the pope, the monks, and the priests as false prophets and denounced their shameful living. He was soon obliged to depart from Geneva, but when the Protestant party became stronger and was supported by Bern he came back (July 1533). The bishop of Geneva, Pierre de la Baume, had just left the city. Froment resumed his Evangelistic work with great success. The Roman Catholic party called a popular preacher, Guy Furbity, a doctor of divinity of the Sorbonne, as Advent preacher. When he spoke violently of the new doctrine in a sermon Froment answered in the church of St. Pierre. A great tumult followed and once more Froment was compelled to leave Geneva. Bern took offense at Furbity's preaching and threatened to break its alliance with Geneva if an apology was not made (Jan., 1534). Froment and Viret came back with the Bernese deputies. The government of Geneva gave way and the Reformation made steady progress. After Mar., 1534, Froment went to the Waldenses in Piedmont and Dauphiné. In 1535 he was in Geneva when the priests, it is alleged, induced a female servant to give a poisoned soup to the Reformers, of which fortunately neither Farel nor Froment partook, but Viret was taken very seriously ill. Meantime Protestantism gained so much ground that the majority of the citizens favored the new doctrine. In Aug., 1535, the mass was abolished and the Reformation practically established. Froment ministered for a time in the Bernese province of Chablais and was deacon at Thonon, but he was busier as a merchant than as a pastor. Then his wife, Marie Dentière of Tournai, a former abbess, became unfaithful to him, and he had to resign his charge. He acted for a time as secretary to Bonivard, the former prior of St. Victor and prisoner of Chilton, then (Dec. 31, 1552) he was appointed notary. In 1562 he was put in prison and banished, being convicted of unchastity. For ten years the old man led a poor and miserable life; at last he was allowed to come back to Geneva (1572) and even to resume his place as notary (1574). His most notable work is: Les Actes et gestes merveilleux de la cité de Genève (ed. G. Revilliod, Geneva, 1854), a chronicle of the years 1532-36, very interesting, but not always accurate.

EUGÈNE CHOISY.