MATHIEU, FRANÇOIS-DÉSIRÉ. - Cardinal, born at Einville (diocese of Nancy) on 28 May 1839, died in London on 26 Oct. 1908. Ordained priest in 1859, parish priest at Pont-à-Mousson, he was elected bishop of Angers in 1893 and, in 1896, archbishop of Toulouse. Simple in manner, but endowed with lively apostolic zeal, he adopted a popular attitude that won him the esteem and affection of the diocesan faithful and of the citizens.
Concerning relations between Church and State, M., in a Lenten pastoral letter of Feb. 1897, claimed for Catholics and the clergy broad freedom of political and legal action, to be exercised through the organization of a party, the election of their own candidates to Parliament, and the defence of their religious faith within the sphere of the political rights recognized for every citizen. At the Consistory of 19 June 1899 Leo XIII created him cardinal of the title of S. Sabina. Desirous of contributing to more cordial relations between France and the S. Sede, he was greatly disappointed in this aim by the separation of 1905. A conscientious and accurate historian, he published a volume on the Napoleonic Concordat (Le Concordat de 1801, Parigi 1903). In 1906 he was elected a member of the Académie française. He died in London, whither he had gone to take part in that Eucharistic congress.