TALLEYRAND, ALEXANDRE-ANGÉLIQUE, Duke of. – Cardinal, b. in Paris on 16 Oct. 1736, d. 20 June 1821. Uncle of the statesman and former Bishop of Autun, he studied at the Collège of La Flèche and at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice.
Ordained a priest, he became almoner to the King, vicar general of Verdun in 1762, coadjutor to the Archbishop of Reims, de la Roche-Aymon, whom he succeeded in 1777; he entrusted the direction of that Seminary to the Sulpicians and founded a Monte di Pietà in Reims. Elected in 1789 as deputy of the clergy to the Estates-General, he took part in the General Assembly of the Clergy of Reims, and was beloved by the Church. When the Revolution broke out in France, he settled in Aquisgrana, Weimar, and Brunswick, until Louis XVIII in 1803 summoned him to Warsaw. After the Concordat of 1801 he was among the bishops who refused to resign. Grand almoner to the King in 1808, he returned to France in 1814 and again accompanied the King to Ghent during the Hundred Days. Created Peer of France in the same year, he played a major part in the conclusion of the Concordat of 1817. After finally resigning the See of Reims, he was created a cardinal by Pius VII on 28 July 1817, and on 1 Oct. Archbishop of Paris. He took possession of his new see in 1819 and imposed upon the priests of the diocese the acceptance of a formulary favourable to Jansenism.