CLERMONT-TONNERRE, ANNE-ANTOINE-MARIE-JULES, DUCA DI

CLERMONT-TONNERRE, ANNE-ANTOINE-MARIE-JULES, Duke of. – Cardinal, b. in Paris on 19 Jan. 1749, d. in Toulouse on 21 Feb. 1830. Abbot of Monterend, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, ecclesiastical peer of the kingdom, deputy of the clergy to the États-Généraux, he first swore fidelity to the Constitution of February 1790; but later he rebelled against the modified Constitution accepted in 1791 by Louis XVI. He emigrated and lived in Belgium, Holland, and Germany, returning to France after the Concordat. He was made a peer of France by Louis XVIII and a cardinal (2 Dec. 1822) by Pius VII. In 1823 he published a Pastoral Letter on the general interests of religion in France, which was censured by the Villèle ministry. He led a protest signed by 73 bishops against the ordinances of 1828, for which he fell into disfavour at court. In 1829, though ill, he went to Rome for the Conclave and died shortly after.