Labadie, Jean de

Labadie, Jean de, or Jean de la Badie (both: zhäN də lä bädē`), 1610–74, French mystic, founder of the Labadists, a quietist sect. He had been a Roman Catholic priest, but c.1650 he embraced Protestantism. He was a minister in Geneva (1659–66), then in Holland (until 1670). There under his leadership his congregation at Middelburg became a religious community dedicated to simple living, holding goods and children in common. The Dutch authorities found him too independent of the ecclesiastical discipline, and the community moved to Westphalia in 1670 and later to Altona. By 1732 the movement had died. Labadists settled in Maryland (1684), but the community failed before 1730.