Bonjour, two brothers, natives of Pont d'Ain, in France, who founded a new sect somewhat similar to the Flagellants of the 13th century. They were educated for the church, and the elder held at first a curacy in La Forez. In 1775, being censured by his bishop for heresy, he was removed from this parish and appointed to that of Fareins, of which his brother was made vicar. After living an irreproachable life for eight years, the elder brother resigned the curacy to the younger, alleging himself to be unworthy of the office. He soon acquired a reputation for working miracles, and attached to himself a number of followers, mostly women and young girls, who called him their petit papa. They held to community of goods, and indulged in eccentric practices which excited a very strong popular sentiment against them. One of the devotees, a young girl, was said to have been publicly crucified by Bonjour in the church, without sustaining any injury. One of their most prominent opponents being found dead in his bed, by the prick of a needle, the elder Bonjour was exiled, and his brother imprisoned in the convent of Toulay, from which he escaped, as he alleged, by the intervention of an angel.

The revolution of 1789 encouraged the former to return to Fareins, and in the absence of the cure and vicar he took possession of his church, and issued orders to his followers, who rallied around him. He was, however, soon dislodged from his occupancy, and under the consulate exiled to Lausanne with his brother, where they both died in extreme poverty. Their sect, known as the flagellants fareinistes, perished with them.