DONNET, FERDINAND-FRANÇOIS-AUGUSTE. - French bishop and cardinal, b. at Bourg-Argental (Loire) on 16 Nov. 1795, d. at Bordeaux on 24 Dec. 1882. Ordained priest in 1819, he passed from being vicar at La Guillotière (Lyon) directly to the parish of Irigny. Endowed with a fervent imagination and an easy eloquence, he soon devoted himself to the ministry of preaching.
His learning and oratorical gifts won him favour and renown; thus, having been appointed honorary vicar general of Tours and subsequently parish priest of Villafranca,
in 1835 he was consecrated bishop as coadjutor to the bishop of Nancy, and barely a year later, in 1836, he was raised to the archbishopric of Bordeaux. In 1852 he was created cardinal and consequently became a member of the Senate of the Empire. In that assembly D. exercised considerable influence in favour of the Pope, whose temporal sovereignty he defended, as well as freedom of teaching and the suppression of the irreligious press. He took part in the Vatican Council, where he ranked among the ultramontanes, together with Plantier, Pie, and others.
The works of D. include 10 vols. of Instructions pastorales, mandements, lettres, discours (Paris 1856–79); in addition to Lettres, discours et autres documents relatifs à la question romaine (Bordeaux 1865). He also wrote a Monographie sur la cathédrale de Bordeaux (ibid. 1866), which reveals considerable learning and notable taste in the field of religious art.
BIRL.: H. Pougeois, Vie, apostolat et épiscopat du card. D., 2 vols., Paris 1884; J. F. Sellier, s. V. in Cath. Enc., V, p. 132. Giuseppe De Rosa