LA LUZERNE, César-Guillaume de. – Cardinal, apologist, defender of the rights of the Church during the French Revolution, b. in Paris on 17 July 1738, d. there on 27 June 1821. After brilliant studies he was ordained a priest; in 1762 he was named vicar general of Narbonne, and three years later became the general agent of the clergy.
In 1770, under Louis XV, he was elected bishop of Langres. In 1788 he took an active part in the debates of the Estates General, desiring to form a separate chamber of clergy and nobility against the Third Estate. In other debates he proved more moderate and conciliatory than his colleagues; seeing, however, his efforts to be in vain, he retired to his diocese, where he continued to guide the clergy with great wisdom, energetically opposing the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in his writings. Having to leave his diocese for this reason, he took refuge in Switzerland, Austria, and then in Italy. Once the revolutionary period had ended, La Luzerne tendered his resignation to the Pope to facilitate the acceptance of the Concordat. Under Louis XVIII, however, he was restored to his see, becoming a cardinal in 1817 and a minister entrusted with participating in the negotiations for the new Concordat. He is one of the most brilliant apologists of his time, though not entirely free from Gallican influences.
Besides various writings against the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, his works, which make him one of the foremost French apologists, include: *Instruction pastorale sur l’excellence de la religion* (Langres 1786); *Sermon sur les causes de l’incrédulité* (Constance 1795); *Considerations sur divers points de la morale chrétienne* (5 vols., Venice 1799); *Dissertations sur la vérité de la religion, etc.* (6 vols., Langres 1802–10); *Explications des Evangiles* (5 vols., Lyons 1807); *Considérations sur l’état ecclésiastique* (ibid. 1810). Posthumous: *Dissertation sur les droits et devoirs respectifs des évêques et des curés dans l’Eglise* (Paris 1854).