BERNIER, ÉTIENNE-ALEXANDRE. - Bishop of Orléans, b. 31 Oct. 1762 at Daon, d. 1 Oct. 1806 in Paris. A doctor of theology, parish priest of St-Laud d'Angers, he refused to take the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy. He was one of the leaders of the Vendée insurrection, but in 1799, after the 18th Brumaire, he began negotiations with the republican government and persuaded the rebels to put an end to the uprising. A Gallican, he was chosen by the First Consul to conduct, in his name, together with Spina, the first negotiations for the Concordat of 1801. He secretly hoped to become archbishop of Paris, but the aged Belloy was preferred to him. Nevertheless, in Apr. 1802 the legate Caprara conferred on him the right to take part in the episcopal administration of Paris, an office that led him to hope for appointment as coadjutor. In Oct. 1802 he became bishop of Orléans. Pius VII created him cardinal, but it was reserved in pectore, because Napoleon opposed its publication, mindful that B. had been one of the most ardent Vendéans: and it was never published.
Bibliography5 worksI. Rinieri, La diplomazia pontificia nel sec. XIX (Il Concordato tra Pio VII e il Primo Console, anno 1800-1802), Rome 1902, passim; F.-D. M
BIBL.: I. Rinieri, La diplomazia pontificia nel sec. XIX (Il Concordato tra Pio VII e il Primo Console, anno 1800-1802), Rome 1902, passim; F.-D. Mathieu, Le Concordat de 1801, Paris 1903, esp. p. 48 ff.; L. De Lanze de Laborie, Les débuts du régime concordataire à Paris: l'épiscopat du card. De Belloy (1802-1808), in Revue des questions historiques, new series, 38 (1907), esp. p. 133 ff.; J. Leflon, E. B., lettres, notes diplomatiques, mémoires, rapports inédits, Paris 1932; id., E. A. B., Evêque d'Orléans, 2 vols., ibid. 1948.
Furlani, Silvio. “Bernier, etienne-alexandre.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, col. 1447. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/bernier-etienne-alexandre.
MLA
Furlani, Silvio. “Bernier, etienne-alexandre.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 1447. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/bernier-etienne-alexandre.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_bernier_etienne_alexandre,
author = {Furlani, Silvio},
title = {Bernier, etienne-alexandre},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {1447},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bernier-etienne-alexandre}
}
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