Maritain was born in Paris, the son of Paul Maritain, who was a lawyer, and his wife Geneviève Favre, the daughter of Jules Favre, and was reared in a liberal Protestant milieu. He was sent to the Lycée Henri IV. Later, he attended the Sorbonne, studying the natural sciences; chemistry, biology and physics. From the Angelic Doctor (the honorary title of St. Aquinas), he was led to "The Philosopher" as St. Thomas christened him, Aristotle. Still later to further his intellectual development, he read the neo-scholastics. From 1945 to 1948, he was the French ambassador to the Vatican.