Guillaume-André-René Baston (29 November 1741, at
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
– 26 September 1825, at
Saint-Laurent) was a French theologian.
Life
He studied theology at St. Sulpice in Paris and finished his studies at
Angers. He was then appointed professor of theology at Rouen. During the
French Revolution he wrote against the
Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Having refused to take the oath, he was obliged to go into exile (1792), first to London, then to Holland, and finally to
Coesfeld
Coesfeld (; Westphalian: ''Koosfeld'') is the capital of the district of Coesfeld in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
History
Coesfeld received its city rights in 1197, but was first recorded earlier than that in the biography of St ...
in
Westphalia. In 1803 he returned to Rouen, where he was appointed vicar-general and dean of the chapter by
Archbishop Cambacérès. As a
Gallican, he won the favor of Napoleon, who appointed him
Bishop of Séez
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
(1813), and the chapter of the cathedral accepted him as capitular vicar.
Pope Pius VII
Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...
failing to approve of this nomination, the cathedral chapter revoked the nomination (1814), and Baston went into retirement at Saint-Laurent near
Pont-Audemer, where he died.
Works
Baston was the author of numerous works on theology, the most important being , written while he was professor of theology, in collaboration with Louis-Théopompe Tuvache de Vertville (10 vols., Rouen, 1818).
He published several polemical works on the subject of theology:
* (Paris, 1772)
* (Clement XIV) (Antwerp, 1777)
* (Brussels, 1779)
During the Revolution he wrote many pamphlets against the
Civil Constitution of the Clergy. His book (1791) was published about the same time. During his exile in Kösfeld he began his , edited later by the (3 vols., Paris, 1897–99).
In his last years, he wrote:
* (Rouen, 1821)
* (Paris, 1823)
* (Paris, 1824).
References
*
*Mémoires de l'Abbé Baston, ed. Loth and Verger (Paris, 1897)
*
Hugo von Hurter, Nomenclator (Innsbruck, 1895), III
*Bellamy in Dict. de théol. cath., s. v.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baston, Guillaume-Andre-Rene
1741 births
1825 deaths
Writers from Rouen
18th-century French Catholic theologians
Bishops of Séez