BOULOGNE, ETIENNE - ANTOINE. - French prelate, b. at Avignone on 26 Dec. 1747, d. at Parigi on 13 May 1825. He was elected deputy to the assembly of the Bailliage de Paris. Vicar of S. Margherita in Parigi, he refused to take the oath imposed by the civil constitution of the clergy. Imprisoned in 1792, he was not released until 1794, and during the consulate
and the empire he led a highly adventurous life; thanks to the protection of card. Fesch, he was appointed Napoleon’s chaplain; he refused the bishopric of Acqui, but in 1808 received that of Troyes. His transfer to the archdiocese of Vienne in 1817 did not take effect. From 1812 onward he was a peer of France. Through his activity, B. was regarded as the creator of the French Catholic press in the 19th century.
His works (sermons, panegyrics, discourses that were much celebrated, and various articles on religion, morality, and criticism) were published in 1828, preceded by a biography of him.