Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose explained

Type:Cardinal
Honorific Prefix:His Eminence
Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose
Archbishop of Rouen
Church:Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese:Rouen
See:Rouen
Appointed:18 March 1858
Term End:28 October 1883
Predecessor:Louis-Marie-Edmont Blanquart de Bailleul
Successor:Léon-Benoît-Charles Thomas
Other Post:Cardinal-Priest of San Clemente (1864-83)
Ordination:21 December 1833
Ordained By:Jean-François-Marie Le Pappe de Trévern
Consecration:30 January 1848
Consecrated By:Antonio Francesco Orioli
Cardinal:11 December 1863
Created Cardinal By:Pope Pius IX
Rank:Cardinal-Priest
Birth Name:Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose
Birth Date:30 May 1800
Birth Place:Paris, French First Republic
Death Place:Rouen, French Third Republic
Buried:Rouen Cathedral
Parents:Louis Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose
Sara Maria Schas
Motto:Fide ac virtute
Coat Of Arms:Coat of arms of Mgr Henri de Bonnechose (Cardinal).svg

Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose (30 May 1800  - 28 October 1883)[1] was a French Catholic and senator.[2] He was the last surviving cardinal to have been born in the 18th century.

Biography

Bonnechose was born in Paris. Entering the magistracy, he became attorney-general for the district of Besançon in 1830, but having received holy orders at Strasburg, under the episcopate of Jean François Marie Lepappe de Trevern, he was made professor of sacred eloquence in the school of higher studies founded at Besançon by Cardinal de Rohan.

After the death of de Rohan, he went to Rome to settle the differences between Bishop de Trevern and himself, due to philosophical opinions found in his work, "Philosophy of Christianity", for which Bonnechose had written an introduction. In 1844 he was named by Rome superior of the community of St. Louis. In 1847 he became Bishop of Carcassonne. He was transferred on 4 November 1854 to the see of Évreux and in 1854 raised to the archiepiscopal see of Rouen.

Created cardinal in 1863,[3] he became ex-officio senator of the empire. The cardinal showed himself a warm advocate of the temporal power of the popes, and firmly protested against the withdrawal of the French army from the Pontifical States.

In 1870, he went to Versailles, the headquarters of the German armies, to entreat Wilhelm I of Prussia to reduce the war contribution imposed on the city of Rouen. Under the republican government he uniformly opposed the laws and measures passed against religious congregations and their schools, but endeavored to inspire his clergy to deference and conciliation in their relations with the civil authorities.

His best known work is "Introduction a la philosophie du Christianisme" (1835), two octavo volumes.

References

Notes

  1. http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1863-ii.htm#Bonnechose Biographical Dictionary: Consistory of December 11, 1863 (XIV)
  2. Web site: Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand Cardinal de Bonnechose . Catholic Hierarchy .
  3. http://www.gcatholic.org/hierarchy/data/cardP09-3.htm Cardinals Created by Pius IX (1861-8)