Jean-Paul Rabaut, dit Rabaut Saint-Étienne

Son of a Protestant minister and elder brother of Jacques-Antoine Rabaut, dit Rabaut-Pommier, deputy of the Convention nationale (National Convention) [see Comité de salut public]; was educated at the Lausanne seminary (1763-1765); ordained priest (11 Nov 1764); served as a Protestant minister near Toulouse and at Nîmes; moved to Paris (1785), where contributed to recognition of civil status of the Protestants (1787); gained a great reputation by publishing Lettres sur l'histoire primitive de la Grèce; was elected (27 Mar 1789) as a representative of the Third Estate of Nîmes and Beaucaire to the États-Généraux (Estates-General); served as a deputy of the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1789-1791); was elected a member of the committee for drafting the Constitution; elected President of the National Assembly (15 Mar 1790 - 27 Mar 1790), causing fervent protests among the nobles and Roman Catholic clergy; demanded equal rights for the Protestants; edited Chronique de Paris and Moniteur universel, published Feuille villageoise; was elected (16 Sep 1791) administrator of the département of Gard, but remained in Paris; was elected to the National Convention (1792-1793) as a deputy for the département of Aube; voted for an appeal to the people and detention at the trial of King Louis XVI; called for delay of the king's execution; served as a member of the Commission des Douze (Commission of Twelve) to ensure security of the Girondin-dominated Convention (appointed 21 May 1793, resigned 28 May 1793); as an adherent of the Girondins, was put on the list of the deputies subject to arrest (2 Jun 1793) and went into hiding in Versailles and Paris; decreed out of law (28 Jul 1793), arrested and guillotined (5 Dec 1793). Biography source: [2]