(52) 1. LOMÉNIE DE BRIENNE, Étienne-Charles de (1727-1794)
Birth. October 9, 1727, Paris, France. Of a noble family.
Education. Studied at Collège d'Harcourt, Paris; and later, at La Sorbonne University, Paris, where he obtained a doctorate in theology.
Priesthood. Ordained, 1752. Vicar general of Rouen, 1752. Member of the Académie des Sciences and of the Académie des Inscriptions.
Episcopate. Elected bishop of Condom, December 19, 1760. Consecrated, January 11, 1761, Dominican novitiate of Saint-Germain, Paris, by Cardinal Paul d'Albert de Luynes, archbishop of Sens. Resigned the government of the diocese, March 21, 1763. Promoted to the metropolitan see of Toulouse, March 21, 1763. Abott comendatario of Mont St. Michel from 1766. Elected member of the Académie Française, June 25, 1770; reception, September 6, 1770. Resigned government of the archdiocese, March 8, 1788. Transferred to the metropolitan see of Sens, March 10, 1788. Among his friends were philosophers Jean Le Ronde d'Alembert and André Morellet, and politicians such as Robert Turgot. Their influence made him enter into politics, oppose and replace Charles-Alexandre Calonne in the ministry of Finance. Contrôleur general of Finances, May 1787 and prime minister, 1788; the failure of his performance forced the convocation of the General Estates of 1789; resigned, August 25, 1788.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of December 15, 1788; never received the red hat and the title. Member of the Assembly of Notables. Accepted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy on January 30, 1791 and was named by the French government bishop of Yonne. In a brief of February 23, 1791, Pope Pius VI severely rebuked him for his disloyalty; he replied by resigning from the cardinalate on March 26, 1791; formally deposed by the pope in the consistory of September 26, 1791. On November 15, 1793, when the Convention was at its fiercest and he was in great danger, apostatized for his own safety. Arrested on February 18, 1794. The next day he was found dead in his prison cell from an apoplexy (1).
Death. February 19, 1794, Sens. Exposed and buried (no information found).
Bibliography. Chapeau, O.S.B. André and Fernand Combaluzier, C.M. Épiscopologe français des temps modernes, 1592-1973. Paris : Letouzey et Ané, 1974, p. 393-394.
Links. Biography by Joseph Sollier, in English, The Catholic Encyclopedia; biography, in English, Brittanica; and his portrait by Jean-François Faure, Musée des Agustins, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Toulouse.
(1) The theory of his suicide has been discarded by modern historical scholarship.
| Top | Catalogs | Home |
©1998-2012 Salvador Miranda.