LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, FRANÇOIS de. - Cardinal, b. in Paris on 8 Dec. 1558, d. on 14 Feb. 1645. Educated by his paternal uncle Jean, abbot of Marmoutier, he studied at the Jesuit College of Clermont. Abbot of Tournus at the age of 15, in 1584 he was elected bishop of Clermont by Henry III. He showed great zeal for the conversion of heretics. During his episcopate the Confraternity of penitents of the B. V. Annunziata was founded at Mauriac, confirmed in 1624 by Urban VIII, and the Capuchins established themselves in three convents. Henry IV named him commander of the Holy Spirit and on 10 Sept. 1607 obtained for him the cardinal's hat from Paul V. Transferred to Senlis, he took possession of it by proxy on 21 Apr. 1610. Sent on a special mission to Rome, where he met Card. Bellarmine, he reached his diocese again on 11 Nov. 1613.
He succeeded in having the canons of the Council of Trent accepted in France at the General Assembly of the clergy of 1615. He exercised great influence at court, as grand almoner and member of the royal council. He renounced the diocese in 1622 and dedicated himself, by the will of Gregory XV and of Louis XIII, to the reform of the religious Orders. This earned him the high recognition of Urban VIII with a brief of 11 Febr. 1640. He consecrated his last years to works of charity and piety, living in the abbey of St. Genevieve, where he was buried. His heart, however, was taken to the College of Clermont.
There remain from him the Synodal Statutes of Clermont (1599) and of Senlis (1621); De l'autorité de l'Eglise en ce qui concerne la foi et la religion, Paris 1603.
Bibliography5 works
Biographie du card. F. de La R., ivi 1926.