(29) 1. BOISGELIN DE CUCÉ, Jean-de-Dieu-Raymond de (1732-1804)

Birth. February 27, 1732, Rennes, France. Of a family of ancient parliamentary nobility from Cesson-Sevigné, Bretagne, France. Second child (first boy) of the five children of Renaud Gabriel de Boisgelin de Cucé (1691-1774), second marquis of Cucé, president à mortier of the Parliament of Bretagne (1730), and his first wife Jeanne Françoise Marie du Roscoët (1712-1743); after she died, he married Thérèse Pauline Le Prestre. One of his ancestors had accompanied Saint Louis IX to the Holy Land. After the death of his elder brother, he ceded his patrimonial rights to his younger brother (guillotined in 1794). His second last name is also listed as Cicé; as Cussé; and as Cusé.

Education. Studied at the Jesuit College of Rennes (humanities); at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, from 1748 (bachelor's in theology); at La Sorbonne University, Paris (licentiate in theology, 1752); he went to Rome to continue his education (obtained a licentiate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law).

Priesthood. Ordained, 1755. Vicar general of Rouen, 1756. Archdeacon of Pontoise, 1760.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Lavaur, March 27, 1765; he received the pallium by brief dated on the same day; took possession of the see on the following November 9; he had been presented by the king of France December 23, 1764. Consecrated, April 28, 1765, church des Feuillants, rue S. Honoré, Paris, by Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse, assisted by Raymond de Dufort, bishop of Avranches, and by Louis de Suffren de Saint-Tropez, bishop of Sisteron. He obtained four abbeys in commendam. Resigned the government of the diocese, February 27, 1771. Promoted to the metropolitan see of Aix, June 17, 1771; he had been presented by the king of France on November 4, 1770. He presided, by right, the États de Provence. Member of the Académie Française, January 15, 1776. Member of the Assembly of Notables, 1776 and 1787-1788. Elected to represent the higher clergy of his province at the États généraux, 1789; president of the Assemblé Nationale (formerly États généraux) for fifteen days in November 1789 (1); his wisdom and eloquence made him leader and spokesman of thirty bishops in the assembly; after the adoption in the summer of 1790 of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which he judged attempted against the rights of the Church, he was replaced by a constitutional bishop in March 1791; it was in this occasion that he addressed to Pope Pius VI, in the name of the episcopate, the famous Exposition de principes sur la constitution civile du clergé of October 30, 1790, a moderate document requesting the advise of the pope, who did not answer. In 1791, he published "Considérations sur la Paix publique adressées aux chefs de la Révolution". From December 1791 until February 1792, he went to Brussels and the to Mainz to visit his family. Returned to Paris and escaped the massacres of September 1792. He went into exile in London in September 8, 1792 (he spoke English well), for not having taken the constitutional oath; he dedicated himself to studying, reading, writing and ministering the French exiles; during the period of 1792 to 1801, he was the chief of the French Catholic émigrés, encouraging the committee of French bihops and counseling the court; he abstained from criticizing harshly the Revolution and the new order of things. Returned to France after the Concordat of July 15, 1801 between France and the Holy See restored peace to the church. He supported the concordat and published Lettre de M. lArchevêque dAix en réponse au bref de sa sainteté le pape Pie VII en date du 15 août 1801. Resigned the pastoral government of the archdiocese as Pope Pius VII had requested to the old bishops, November 7, 1801. He returned to France in 1802. He was presented by First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte on April 12, 1802 to the metropolitan see of Tours; on the following April 16, he was named by Cardinal-legate Giovanni Battista Caprara; he took possession of the see on July 17; confirmed by apostolic bull on July 23; he was favorable to the consular regime. He published Discours sur le rétablissement de la religion prononcé à Notre-Dame de Paris, pour célébrer la signature du Concordat. He was promoted to the cardinalate at the request of First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of January 17, 1803; received the red biretta on the following March 27 in the chapel of the Tuileries, Paris, from Napoléon; died before receiving the red hat and the title. In 1803, he was named a senator; and on July 14, 1804, grand-officer of the Légion d'onneur. He was interested in the ideas of Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu; a friend of Cardinal Loménie de Brienne, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, and Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis; frequented the residence of Voltaire and of Jean le Rond d'Alembert; was a translator of Ovid, and a valiant defender in the plan of the princes of the Church in facing the Revolution while proposing measures of conciliation. A liberal prelate liberal, enlightened but pious and faithful to his duties, he was a also good administrator and concerned with economic development of his diocese. An eloquent speaker, he pronounced the funeral oration of the Dauphin, son of King Louis XV (1765); of King Stanislas of Poland (1766); of the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe of Saxony (1767); as well as the speech of the consecration of King Louis XVI in Reims on June 11, 1775. He was one of the most remarkable prelates of the 18th century, but the honors that he received after his acceptance of the Concordat of 1801 made him look like a traitor to the refractory bishops, who opposed the settlement.

Death. August 22, 1804, in his maison in Angervilliers. His funeral was celebrated on September 12, 1804. Buried in the cemetery of Angervilliers, then in diocese of Versailles, now in diocese of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes. At the present, it is not known where his tomb is in that cemetery.

Bibliography. Berton, Charles. Dictionnaire des cardinaux, contenant des notions générales sur le cardinalat, la nomenclature complète ..., des cardinaux de tous less temps et de tous les pays ... les détails biographiques essentiels sur tous les cardinaux ... de longues études sur les cardinaux célèbre ... Paris : J.-P. Migne, 1857 ; Facsimile edition. Farnborough ; Gregg, 1969, cols. 546-547; Chapeau, O.S.B. André and Fernand Combaluzier, C.M. Épiscopologe français des temps modernes, 1592-1973. Paris : Letouzey et Ané, 1974, p. 199-200; LeBlanc, Jean. Dictionnaire biographique des cardinaux du XIXe siècle : contribution à l'histoire du Sacré Collège sous les pontificats de Pie VII, Léon XII, Pie VIII, Grégoire XVI, Pie IX et Léon XIII, 1800-1903. Montréal : Wilson & Lafleur, 2007. (Collection Gratianus. Série instruments de recherche), p. 159-161; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VI (1730-1799). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 92 and 433; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VII (1800-1846). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 9 and 381.

Webgraphy. Biography, in English; biography, in French; another biography, in French; his genealogy; his engraving; another engraving, Archives of Rennes; and his engraving by Pietro Mancion, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

(1) The presidency of the assembly was rotatory for periods of approximately fifteen days and in it alternated representatives of the three estates.

(30) 2. COLLOREDO-WALDESEE-MELS, Anton Theodor von (1729-1811)

Death. September 12, 1811, Kroměříž. Exposed and buried in the chapel of Mother of Sorrows, cathedral of Saint Moritz, Kroměříž (1). In the same chapel is buried Cardinal Wolfgang Hannibal von Schrattenbach.

Bibliography. Bertolla, P. I cardinali friulani. Udine : 1962; LeBlanc, Jean. Dictionnaire biographique des cardinaux du XIXe siècle : contribution à l'histoire du Sacré Collège sous les pontificats de Pie VII, Léon XII, Pie VIII, Grégoire XVI, Pie IX et Léon XIII, 1800-1903. Montréal : Wilson & Lafleur, 2007. (Collection Gratianus. Série instruments de recherche), p. 253-254; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VI (1730-1799). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, p. 318; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VII (1800-1846). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 9; Zelenka, Alés. "Colloredo-Waldesee (Wallesse)-Mles, Anton Theodor, Reichgraf von (1729-1811)." Die Bischöfe des Heiligen Römischen Reiches, 1648 bis 1803 : ein biographisches Lexikon. Herausgegeben von Erwin Gatz, unter Mitwirkung von Stephan M. Janker. Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 1990, p. 67-68.

Webgraphy. His portrait and biography, in German, Wikipedia; brief biographical data, in Italian, Dizionario Bigrafico Friulano; his engraving by Nicola Moneta, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; his effigy and arms on seventeen medals and coins, Numismatic collection of Olomouc archiepiscopate, Czech Republic; seven engravings, Bildarchiv Austria. Die Bildplattform der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his portrait and coins, numismatika.cz, Michal Burian; his epitaph, Wikipedia.

(1) This is the text of his epitaph, taken from the photograph linked above:

(31) 3. ZORZI, C.R.S., Pietro Antonio (1745-1803)

Webgraphy. His engraving and arms, Araldica Vaticana.

(32) 4. CADELLO, Diego Gregorio (1735-1807)

Webgraphy. His portrait and biography, in Italian, Wikipedia; his portrait, Araldica Sardegna; his engraving, Araldica Sardegna.

(33) 5. BELLOY, Jean-Baptist de (1709-1808)

Webgraphy. Biography by Charles Schrantz, in English, The Catholic Encyclopedia; biography, in French, Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, p. 91-96; his portrait, engraving and biographical data, in French, archdiocese of Paris; Family Belloy-Morangle and biographical data, in French, Généalogie de la famille de Roussel de Preville; his funeral monument by Louis-Pierre Deseine, Chapelle Saint-Marcel, metropolitan cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris, Insecula; his engraving, Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his engraving, Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his engraving, Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his engraving, Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his engraving, Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna; his engraving by Pietro Mancion, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; his portrait by Laurent Dalbos, Musée de Versalles; his bust by Louis Pierre Desseine, Musée du Louvre; his bust by Louis Pierre Desseine, Musée du Louvre; head by Louis Pierre Desseine, Musée du Louvre; another head by Louis Pierre Desseine, Musée du Louvre; and his portrait by an anonymous artist, Hospice of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France.

(34) 6. CAMBACÉRÈS, Étienne-Hubert de (1756-1818)

Webgraphy. His engraving and brief biographical information, in French, eighth section on page, Emmanuel Prunaux; his engraving, Emmanuel Prunaux; his arms and engraving, Araldica Vaticana.

(36) 7. FESCH, Joseph (1763-1839)

Birth. January 3, 1763, Ajaccio, Corsica. Second child of Franz Fesch (1711-1770), and Angela Maria di Pietrasanta (ca.1725-1793). The father was a Swiss officer at the service of the Genoese navy, who had converted from Protestantism; and his mother had had a daughter from her first marriage to Girolamo Ramolino, Letizia Ramolino, who became the mother of Napoléon Bonaparte. Grand-uncle of Cardinal Lucien-Louis-Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte (1868).

Education. Initial studies with the former Jesuits (the Society of Jesus had been suppressed) of the Seminary of Ajaccio; continued his studies at the Minor Seminary of Ajaccio from 1778; later, entered the Grand Seminary of Aix in 1781, where he earned a doctorate in theology in 1785.

Priesthood. Ordained, 1785, Aix. In Ajaccio, he became capitular prebendary in 1787; canon and archdeacon of its cathedral chapter also in 1787; vicar general of the constitutional bishop in 1791; he took the oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in that same year and manifested himself in favor of the new order. Obliged to leave Corsica when his family sided with France against the English, who came to the island. Arriving in France, he had to abandon the religious habit; in June 1793, he sought refuge in Provence, with his nephews Joseph, Napoléon and Lucien, where he became a simple store guard; for a while he exiled himself in Switzerland; then, under the protection of his nephew, obtained in 1796, became commissary of war, which contributed to enrich him considerably and allowed him to carry out a rather worldly life. He approached his former state gradually after the 18 Brumaire of year VIII (November 9, 1799); he returned officially to the ecclesiastical state in April 1802, after a retreat in Saint-Sulpice. During the Consulate, became canon of Bastia. Helped, indirectly, to negotiate the Concordat of July 15, 1801 between France and the Holy See.

Episcopate. Nominated by Emperor Napoléon I Bonaparte to the metropolitan see of Lyon, July 31, 1802; accepted by the cardinal legate, Giovanni Battista Caprara, August 4, 1802; confirmed by apostolic brief, September 27, 1802, which also granted him the pallium. Consecrated, August 15, 1802, cathedral of Paris, by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Caprara, assisted by Étienne Bernier, bishop of Orléans, and by Louis Sebastiani, bishop of Ajaccio. He took possession of the see on January 2, 1803.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of January 17, 1803; received the red biretta from First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte in the chapel of the Tuileries the following March 27; received red hat, July 7, 1803; and the title of S. Maria della Vittoria, July 11, 1803. Named plenipotentiary minister of the French Republic before the Holy See on April 4, 1803; arrived in Rome on July 2; Chateaubriand was the secretary of the mission. Persuaded Pope Pius VII to go to Paris to crown Napoléon I; accompanied the pope to France and blessed the marriage of Napoléon I and Joséphine before their coronation, December 1, 1804; the coronation took place the following day. He participated in the negotiation of the concordat with the Italian Republic and also took part in the negotiations for a concordat with Germany. He was named senator on February 5, 1804. Named grand chaplain as such, he exerted a great influence on the episcopal nominations and was decorated with the grand aigle of the Légion d'honneur, February 2, 1805. Received the collar of the Spanish Order of Toisón de Oro on August 9, 1805. Director of the missionary institutions of Saint-Lazare and Saint-Sulpice, 1805. He had the title of Imperial Highness. Recalled to France in April 1806, not having succeeded in inserting the Holy See in the anti-European coalition, he was appointed, on October 21, 1806, coadjutor of the prince-bishop of Ratisbon, title which did not oblige him with the residence but brought him considerable income, and which was allotted to him because the emperor wished to possibly make of it the primate of Germany as much as that of Gaules. He advised, semi-officially, the emperor on religious matters, which explains why between 1802 and 1812, he made only rare appearances in his archdiocese, remaining there in all for approximately only a year.

He presided over the ecclesiastical commission of 1809 on the application of the Concordat; over that of 1810 on the canonical nomination of the bishops; neither commission adopted any schismatic resolutions; and over the National Council of French bishops of June-October 1811, convened to settle the question of the canonical institution of the bishops apart from the pope by entrusting it to the metropolitans; he was exiled in his archdiocese in March 1812 following the failure of the discussions, the council declaring itself without competence in the matter, and the emperor judging his uncle too close to the Roman positions; he was also deprived on August 26 of the income of Ratisbon and lost the grand chaplaincy. In 1809 and 1810 presided over the two ecclesiastical commissions charged with the question of canonical institution of bishops. On January 31, 1809, he was nominated to the archdiocese of Paris; in February of that same year, he received from the cathedral chapter the powers of capitular administrator; but he declined because he knew that the Holy See would never allow the accumulation of two sees and would not grant the canonical institution. Blessed Napoléon I's marriage with Marie-Louise of Austria. April 2, 1810. He baptized the emperor's son, the king of Rome, on June 9, 1811. As president of the Council of 1811, he remained loyal to Pope Pius VII, in exile at Fontainebleau, and for this, the cardinal fell into disfavor with the emperor. He left his archdiocese in January 1814, because of the advance of the coalition troops, to prevent that a member of the imperial family would fall between their hands; he took refuge in Rome, where he arrived on May 14; he briefly returned to Lyon at the end of May 1815, at the time of the Hundred Days; on June 2, he was named member of the Chambre des Pairs, but he abstained from taking his seat. Prevented from returning to his see by King Louis XVIII, he went back to Rome in August 1815; he was definitively banished from France, like the other members of the imperial family, by the law of January 12, 1816; he always refused, in spite of the papal requests, to resign the archdiocese of Lyon, which he continued to govern through vicars general, although he would have been ready to accept a coadjutor; neither the offer of appointment to archbishop of Ferrara, vacant in 1822, 1826 and 1834, nor that of a suburbicarian, succeeded in convincing him (Pope Pius VII, on October 1, 1817, suspended his jurisdiction and named an apostolic administrator who never took his functions; and Pope Leo XII named a new apostolic administrator on December 26, 1823). He lived in Rome extremely withdrawn, in a palace where his collections accumulated, seeing only his family and remaining far away from the political intrigues. He took part in the work of the congregations to which it belonged (Consistorial, Bishops and Regulars, Council, Propaganda Fide and Ceremonial), and ensured himself, since 1819, of the presence of chaplains in Sainte-Hélène. Opted for the title of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, retaining in commendam the title of S. Maria della Vittoria, December 2, 1822. Cardinal primo prete. Participated in the conclave of 1823, which elected Pope Leo XII. Participated in the conclave of 1829, which elected Pope Pius VIII. Participated in the conclave of 1830-1831, which elected Pope Gregory XVI. More than one thousand paintings of his 17,626 works of art collection are housed at the Fesch Museum, Ajaccio. He succeeded in establishing the harmony between constitutional and refractory priests; supported the reconstitution of the religious communities; started again the interior missions; and restored the public worship. Very conscious of the intellectual failure of the clergy, he attached a particular importance to the revival of clerical studies and to the development of the seminaries, with the result of a considerable increase in the number of priestly ordinations; he conceived, in 1806, the project to associate to the cathedral chapter an École des hautes études, and supported in 1808 the creation of state theological faculties.

Death. May 13, 1839, of stomach cancer, Rome. Exposed in his title, S. Lorenzo in Lucina, where the funeral took place; transferred to Corneto and buried in the church of the monastery of the Passion in that city, next to his half-sister (1). In July 1851, according to their wills, transported to Ajaccio and in 1860, buried in the crypt of the chapel of his palace (2). A monument for Cardinal Fesch, the work of Gabriel-Vital Dubray, was erected in the courtyard of the museum that has his name in Ajaccio in 1856. He left important donations to the see of Lyon and to the city of Ajaccio.

Bibliography. Berton, Charles. Dictionnaire des cardinaux, contenant des notions générales sur le cardinalat, la nomenclature complète ..., des cardinaux de tous less temps et de tous les pays ... les détails biographiques essentiels sur tous les cardinaux ... de longues études sur les cardinaux célèbre ... Paris : J.-P. Migne, 1857 ; Facsimile edition. Farnborough ; Gregg, 1969, col. 898-899; Boutry, Philippe. Souverain et Pontife : recherches prosopographiques sur la curie romaine à l'âge de la restauration, 1814-1846. Rome : École française de Rome, 2002, pp. 379-381; Chapeau, O.S.B. André and Fernand Combaluzier, C.M. Épiscopologe français des temps modernes, 1592-1973. Paris : Letouzey et Ané, 1974, p. 295-296; Colombani, Hèléne. Le cardinal Fesch. Paris : Albatros, 1979; Latreille, André Auguste. ... Napoléon et le Saint-Siège (1801-1808). L'ambassade du cardinal Fesch à Rome. Paris : F. Alcan, 1935. (Biblothèque d4histoire contemporaine); LeBlanc, Jean. Dictionnaire biographique des cardinaux du XIXe siècle : contribution à l'histoire du Sacré Collège sous les pontificats de Pie VII, Léon XII, Pie VIII, Grégoire XVI, Pie IX et Léon XIII, 1800-1903. Montréal : Wilson & Lafleur, 2007. (Collection Gratianus. Série instruments de recherche), p. 348-351; Lyonnet, Jean Baptiste. Le cardinal Fesch, archevêque de Lyon ... fragments biographiques, politiques et religieux pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique contemporaine. 2 v. Lyon ; Paris : Perisse fréres, 1841. Note: Paris, Lyon, Librairie Victor Lecoffre; Michel, Ersilio. Le carte Fesch nell'Archivio dipartimentale di Lione. Livorno : R. Giusti, 1932. Note: Estratto dall'"Archivio storico di Corsica", anno VIII, num. 4, 1932; Napoléon, les Bonaparte et l'Italie : 11/04-30/09 2001, Musée Fesch, Ajaccio. Ajaccio : Musée Fesch, 2001; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Volumen VII (1800-1846). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, p. 9, 42, 43 and 246.

Webgraphy. Biography by Georges Goyau, in English, The Catholic Encyclopedia; his engraving and biography, in English, Encyclopaedia Birtannica; his engraving and biography, in English, Wikipedia; biography by Paolo Alvazzi Del Frate, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 47 (1997), Treccani; his portrait by an anonymous artists, musée de château de Fontainebleau; his portrait by Charles Meynier, musée de château de Versailles; his portrait by Andrea Appiani, archbishopric of Lyon; his portrait and bust, by Jérôme Maglioli, and Antonio Canova, respectively, both in the Musée Napoléonien de l'Hôtel de Ville, Ajaccio; portrait by Jules Pasqualini, Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica, France; portrait by Antoine-Claude Fleury, Musée de la Maison Bonaparte, Ajaccio, Corsica, France; his statue, courtyard of the Musée Fesch, Ajaccio; seven engravings, Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his engraving, Bibliothèque publique et universitaire, Neuchâtel; his engraving by Gioacchino Lepri, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; lithograph by Cäcilie Brandt; his arms and engravings, Araldica Vaticana.

(1) In Rome and during his brief return to France in 1815, the cardinal always lived with his half-sister, for whom he felt a deep fraternal affection in spite of having different fathers.
(2) This is the text of the inscription on his vault, kindly provided by Mr. Eman Bonnici, from Malta:

©1998-2022 Salvador Miranda.