LA LUZERNE, CÉSAR-GUILLAUME DE. - Cardinal, apologist, defender of the rights of the Church during the period of 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 was appointed vicar general of Narbonne, and three years later became the agent general of the clergy.

In 1770 he was elected by Louis XV bishop of Langres. In 1788 he took an active part in the discussions of the Estates

General, wishing, against the third estate, to form a separate chamber of the clergy and the nobility. In the other debates La L. showed himself more moderate and conciliatory than his colleagues; seeing his work to be useless, however, he withdrew to his diocese, where he continued to direct the clergy with great wisdom, struggling energetically with his writings against the civil constitution of the clergy. Having been obliged for this reason to leave the diocese, he took refuge in Switzerland, Austria and then in Italy. Once the period of the Revolution was over, La L. gave the Pope the resignation required in order to facilitate the application of the Concordat. Under Louis XVIII, however, he was restored to his see, becoming a cardinal (1817) and a minister with the task of taking part in the negotiations of the new Concordat. He is one of the most brilliant apologists of his time, although not entirely free of Gallican infiltrations.

Besides the various writings against the civil constitution of the clergy, the works that make him one of the foremost French apologists are: Instruction pastorale sur l'excellence de la religion (Langres 1786); Sermon sur les causes de l'incrédulité (Constance 1795); Considérations 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 Évangiles (5 vols., Lyon 1807); Considérations sur l'état ecclésiastique (ibid. 1810). Posthumous: Dissertation sur les droits et devoirs respectifs des évêques et des curés dans l'Église (Paris 1854).

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: J. Charonnet, Mgr de La L. et les serments pendant la Révolution, Paris 1918; L. Marchal, s. v. in DThC, VIII, II, coll. 2465-66.

Iaroslav Skarvada

@incollection{ec7_la_luzerne_cesar_guillaume_de, author = {Skarvada, Jaroslav}, title = {La Luzerne, césar-guillaume de}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {825--826}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/la-luzerne-cesar-guillaume-de} }

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La Luzerne, César-Guillaume de

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