(8) 1. FLEURY, André-Hercule de (1653-1743)
Birth. June 22, 1653, Lodève, France. Of a noble and ancient family of Languedoc. From childhood was destined to the ecclesiastical state. Sent to Paris in 1659.
Education. Jesuit Collège de Clermont (now Louis-le-Grand (humanities); Collège d'Harcourt (now Saint-Louis (philosophy); Royal Collège de Navarre (Latin and Greek literatures); La Sorbonne University, Paris (licentiate in theology, 1676).
Early life. Received the clerical tonsure, 1666. Canon of the cathedral chapter of Montpellier, 1668.
Priesthood. Ordained, 1679. Almoner of Queen Maire-Therèse (wife of King Louis XIV), 1679. Deputy of the second order to the Assembly of the Clergy, 1682. Almoner of King Louis XIV, 1683, after the death of the queen. Abbot of Cistercian abbey of Sainte-Marie de Rivoire, Champagne, 1686.
Episcopate. Elected bishop of Fréjus, May 18, 1699. Consecrated, November 22, 1699, Feuillants, rue St-Honoré, Paris, by Louis-Antoine de Noailles, archbishop of Paris, assisted by Henri Feydeau, bishop of Amiens, and by François de Clermont-Tonnerre, bishop of Langres. He was one of the French bishops who immediately and without reservations accepted and published the bull Unigenitus of Pope Clement XI. Resigned government of the diocese, May 3, 1715, because of poor health or to become preceptor of Dauphin Louis, future King Louis XV, 1715. Abbot of Tournus, diocese of Cavaillon, 1715. Member of the Académie Française, 1717. Declined promotion to the metropolitan see of Reims, 1722. Abbot of Saint-Etienne, Bayeux. Minister of state of France and superintendent general of Posts, June 11, 1726 until his death. Provisor of La Sorbonne University and of the Royal collège de Navarre.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of September 11, 1726; never received the red hat and the title. Did not participate in the conclave of 1730, which elected Pope Clement XII. Did not participate in the conclave of 1740, which elected Pope Benedict XIV.
Death. January 29, 1743, Issy, near Paris. Buried in a magnificent monument, built for him by King Louis XV, in the church Saint-Louis du Louvre, Paris.
Bibliography. Chapeau, O.S.B. André and Fernand Combaluzier, C.M. Épiscopologe français des temps modernes, 1592-1973. Paris : Letouzey et Ané, 1974, p. 297-298; Chaussinand-Nogaret, Guy. Le cardinal de Fleury : le Richelieu de Louis XV. Paris : Payot & Rivages, 2002; Hardy, Georges. Le cardinal de Fleury et le mouvement janséniste. Paris : H. Champion, 1925; Sars, Maxime. Le cardinal de Fleury, apôtre de la paix. Paris : Hachette, 1942; Wilson, Arthur McCandless. French foreign policy during the administration of Cardinal Fleury, 1726-1743 : a study in diplomacy and commercial development. Cambridge : Harvard University Press ; London : H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1936. (Harvard historical studies, XL).
Links. Biography, in English; portrait and another biography, in French; and his portrait, studio of Hyacinthe Rigaud.
| Top | Catalogs | Home |
©1998-2009 Salvador Miranda.