Jacques Maritain, French philosopher, was born in Paris in 1982 is a Protestant family; he grew up in an atmosphere of liberal Protestantism. As a student at the Sorbonne he became dissatisfied with the skepticism and materialism of the academy philosophy, and this eventually led to his conversion, together with his wife, to Catholicism. In this he was greatly influenced by Leon Bloy. Maritain has given courses at the Mediaeval Institute in Toronto. In 1945 he was appointed French ambassador to the Vatican. He is recognized as a leader of the neo-Thomist movement and of the Catholic intellectual revival in general.