Also known as:
Melchior Cardinal de Polignac;
French: Cardinal de Polignac
POLIGNAC, MELCHIOR de. - Cardinal, diplomat and apologist, b. at Puy-en-Velay on 11 Oct. 1661, d. at Paris on 20 Nov. 1741. He studied in Paris, becoming passionately devoted to the philosophy of Descartes. In Rome in 1689, by settling the question of the four Gallican articles of 1682, he averted a schism.
In 1693 he was ambassador to Poland. Having fallen into disfavor, he was confined in the abbey of Bonport (1698-1702). In 1704 he succeeded Bossuet at the Académie Française; in 1706, appointed auditor of the Rota, he moved to Rome. In 1710 he took part in the Conference of Gertruydenberg and in 1713 in the Peace of Utrecht. On 8 May 1712 he was created cardinal and in 1726 he became archbishop of Auch. Having taken part in the Cellamare conspiracy, he was relegated to the abbey of Auchin.
A lover of art and letters, he distinguished himself as an orator, philosopher and poet. In his exile at Bonport he composed the celebrated poem Anti-Lucretius sive de Deo et natura (2 vols., Paris 1747; 1749) in 9 books of ca. 1000 verses each. It was translated into Italian by P. Ricci (3 vols., Verona 1767). The author sets out to refute the ancient materialism of Lucretius and the contemporary materialism of P. Bayle and to demonstrate the existence of God and of the supernatural world and the spirituality and immortality of the soul.
Bibliography4 worksC. Faucher, Histoire du card. de P., 2 vols., Paris 1777; A. Jacotin, Preuves de la maison de P., III, ibid. 1809, p. 290 ff.; IV, ibid. 190
BIBL.: C. Faucher, Histoire du card. de P., 2 vols., Paris 1777; A. Jacotin, Preuves de la maison de P., III, ibid. 1809, p. 290 ff.; IV, ibid. 1905, p. 531 ff.; J. Carreyre, s. v. in DThC, XII, II, coll. 2416-28.
Zollini, Vito. “Polignac, melchior de.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX, coll. 1683–1684. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/polignac-melchior-de.
MLA
Zollini, Vito. “Polignac, melchior de.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, coll. 1683–1684. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/polignac-melchior-de.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec9_polignac_melchior_de,
author = {Zollini, Vito},
title = {Polignac, melchior de},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {IX},
pages = {1683--1684},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1952},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/polignac-melchior-de}
}
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