According to Henri IV's chief minister Sully, Paré was a Huguenot and on 24 August 1572, the day of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Paré's life was saved when King Charles IX locked him in a clothes closet. He died in Paris on 20 December 1590 from natural causes in his 80th year, and is buried at the church of Saint André-des-Arts. While there is evidence that Paré may have been sympathetic to the Huguenot cause, he seems to have kept appearances of being Catholic to avoid danger: he was twice married, was buried, and had his children baptized into the Catholic faith.