Educated at the Lycée Saint-Louis and the Ecole Normale, he was for many years before his death professor of Latin eloquence at the College de France.
His two capital works were a commentary on the works of Pascal, Pensées de Pascal, publiées dans le texte authentique, avec un commentaire suivi et une étude littéraire (1852; 2nd ed. 2 vols., 1881), and Le Christianisme et ses origines (4 vols., 1871-1884), the chief thesis of which was that Christianity owed more to Greek philosophy than to the writings of the Hebrew prophets.
His elder son, Pierre Antoine Louis Havet (b. 1349), was professor of Latin philology at the College de France and a member of the Institute. The younger, Julien, is separately noticed.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.