TURINAZ, CHARLES-FRANÇOIS. - Bishop, b. at Chambéry on 2 Feb. 1838, d. at Nancy on 19 Oct. 1918. In Rome he took his doctorate in theology and in canon law at the Collegio Romano.
For some time secretary to Cardinal Billet, he taught theology at the seminary of his native city. Appointed in 1873 bishop of Tarentaise, he was promoted on 30 March 1882 to bishop of Nancy and Toul. In 1891 he proposed an episcopal commission with the aim of bringing about, on purely religious ground and above every political division, an understanding among all priests and all the faithful, both to support the governmental authorities, should they be willing to guarantee religious peace, and to offer resistance to those same authorities should they be determined to pursue an anti-Catholic policy. This proposal was reaffirmed by T. in Apr. 1892 with the publication of the pamphlet Sauvons la France chrétienne! Appel aux catholiques, aux libéraux sincères, aux honnêtes gens de tous les partis. His invitation met with the indecision of the episcopate, but not with the uncertainty of the government, which, aware of the importance of the initiative to form a compact bloc of French Catholics, hastened to suspend his stipend on the pretext that a law of 10 Germinal forbade bishops to enter into agreements. Equally energetic was T.'s stance in the following years. A "frontier bishop," he labored enormously for his diocese, promoting the construction of new churches and the strengthening of the faith. Among his works are remembered: Oeuvres pastorales (2 vols., 1881-90); Les Concordats et l'obligation réciproque qu'ils imposent à l'Eglise et à l'Etat (1888); Projet de séparation de l'Eglise et de l'Etat (1905); Nouvelles atteintes aux droits et aux libertés des catholiques de France (1908). In 1913 he was promoted, while retaining the residential see, to titular archbishop of Antioch of Pisidia.
Bibliography5 works
Silvio Furlani