(1) 1. LUXEMBOURG, Philippe de (1445-1519)

Birth. 1445, (no place found), France. Of the royal family. Son of quasi Cardinal Thibaud de Luxembourg, O.Cist. (1) and Philippe de Melun. Grand-nephew of Cardinal Louis de Luxembourg (1439). Great-grand-nephew of Bl. Cardinal Pierre de Luxembourg (1384). Uncle of Cardinal Louis II de Bourbon de Vendôme (1517). He was called the Cardinal of Le Mans and the Cardinal of Luxembourg.

Education. (No information found).

Priesthood. Ordained for the diocese of Arras (no further information found).

Episcopate. Elected bishop of bishop of Le Mans, November 4, 1476; succeeded his father, who resigned the see in his favor; resigned the see in favor of his nephew François de Luxembourg on January 27, 1507; named to the see again on September 9, 1509, at the death of his nephew; occupied the see until his own death. Consecrated (no information found). In 1477 he petitioned the canons of the cathedral chapter of Terracina to have the remains of their bishop, his father, transferred to Le Mans and buried in its cathedral; the petition was granted. On September 10, 1478, he did the ad limina visit through a procurator. Participated in the États of Tours in 1483. Promoted to the cardinalate at the request of his cousin King Charles VIII of France.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of January 21, 1495 (2); the pope sent him the red hat shortly after; received the title of Ss. Marcellino e Pietro, February 2, 1495. Officiated in the funeral of Charles-Orland, son of King Charles VIII, in Tours in 1495. Postulated bishop of Terouanne on February 3, 1496; the postulation was strongly supported by the king; the pope delayed the election until November 12, 1498 because he was concerned for the accumulation of revenues from two sees; Antoine de Créqui was also aspiring to that see; retained the see of Le Mans; took possession of the see in person on May 31, 1502; resigned the see in favor of François de Melun, his uncle and godfather, November 26, 1516. In 1498, he was named one of the legates a latere to judge the cause of annulment of the marriage of King Louis XII to Jeanne de Valois. He celebrated the obsequies for Gui XV, count of Laval and Montfort, who died on May 15, 1500 in Laval. Did not participate in the conclave of 1503, which elected Pope Pius III. Did not participate in the second conclave of 1503, which elected Pope Julius II. On May 23, 1505, he bestowed the pallium on François de Rohan, archbishop of Lyon; the ceremony took place in Le Mans, in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin in the cathedral. He went to Rome in 1507. Cardinal protoprete, September 1508. Opted for the order of cardinal bishops and the suburbicarian see of Albano, June 3, 1509. Named bishop of Saint-Pons de Tomières, September 8, 1509; he took possession of the see on October 26, 1509 through Jean des Hayes, canon and dean of Saint-Pierre du Mans, while he resided in Rome; celebrated a diocesan synod in May 1511; he approved the publication of a book of hours (3); resigned the see shortly after on July 9, 1511. Abbot of the royal abbey of Saint-Pierre de Jumiègues, 1510-1518. Opted for the suburbicarian see of Frascati, January 20, 1511. His name was included in a document dated May 16, 1511 which summoned Pope Julius II to appear before the schismatic Council of Pisa; the cardinal had not been consulted and vigorously protested and never went to the gathering. In July 1512, he consecrated the cemetery of Saint-Venerand in Laval. Did not participate in the conclave of 1513, which elected Pope Leo X. Abbot commendatario of the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Vincent, near Le Mans, which had united the priorate of Saint-Vincent de l'Oratoire, January 9, 1514. Named bishop of Arras, November 26, 1516; he replaced François de Melun; resigned the see, March 10, 1518. Papal legate to France in 1516; he arrived in Paris on January 29, 1517 and requested the abrogation of the Pragmatic Sanction. In that same year, he crowned Queen Claudia of France. He was one of the richest French prelates. Also, he was abbot commendatario of Saint-Martin de Seez. He founded collèges in Paris and Le Mans.

Death. June 2, 1519, Le Mans. Buried in the cathedral of Le Mans (4); his heart was buried in the abbey of Saint-Vincent de Mans, in that city. His remains were dispersed by the Protestants during the Wars of Religion. His name appeared in the Gallican Martyrology on June 22, as a sign of his highly regarded holiness; miracles were said to have occurred at his tomb.

Bibliography. Berton, Charles. Dictionnaire des cardinaux, contenant des notions générales sur le cardinalat, la nomenclature complète ..., des cardinaux de tous les 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., col. 1367; Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, III, 270-271; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1630, II, col. 1333-1334; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VIII. Les cardinaux du XVIe siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1936. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1936, p.118 ; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen II (1431-1503). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1914; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 23, 63, 124 and 197; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen III (1503-1592). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1935; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 55, 122, 162, 250 and 277; Fisquet, Honoré. La France pontificale (Gallia christiana), histoire chronologique et biographique des archevêques et évêques de tous les diocèses de France depuis l'établissement du christianisme jusqu'à nos jours, divisée en 17 provinces ecclésiastique. 22 vol. Paris : E. Repos, 1864-1873, III, 10, pp. 572-575.

Webgraphy. Biography, in Italian; biography, in French; biography, in French, pp. 572-575; his genealogy, A2 D1 E3 F1 G2 H2; his arms, penultimate on page 1; and the place of burial of his heart, Abbey of Saint-Vincent de Mans, Le Mans, France; Catalogue des Évêques du Mans, in French.

(1) After the death of his wife in 1456, he entered the ecclesiastical state and was abbot commendatario of Igny and Ours-camps, bishop of Le Mans, and according to some sources, created cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV but never published; he died on September 1, 1477.
(2) This is according to Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, II, 33; and "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VIII. Les cardinaux du XVIe siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1936, p. 118; Fisquet, La France pontificale , III, 10, 572; and Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, III, 270, say that the consistory took place on January 21, 1496; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 1333, says that the consistory took place on December 27, 1497; his biography in Italian, linked above, indicates that he was created on January 21, 1496 or 1497; and Berton, Dictionnaire des cardinaux, col. 1367, says that he was created in 1496.
(3) The book was entitled Les présentes Heures à l'usaige du Mans au long sans rien requérir avec les miracles Notre-Dame et les figures de l'Apocalipse des triumphes de Cesar. It was published in Paris in 1510, in 8º, gothic, with illustrations.
(4) This is the text of his epitaph, taken from his second biography in French, linked above: Hic jacet corpus illustrissimi Philippi a Luxemburgo S. R. E. presbyteri cardinalis, legate a latere in Gallia, episcopo Cenomanensis, qui obiit quarto nonas junii MCXIX. There is a mistake in the year, which should be MDXIX. Guillaume Ledoyen, a notary from Laval, who died in 1537, wrote in his Chronique, in verse, which manuscript is in Bibliothèque Imperiale, number 1081:

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