Louis-Mathias, Count de Barral (26 April 1746 – 7 June 1816) was a French church figure. He was born at

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

and was educated for the priesthood at the seminary of St. Sulpice, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1774–1775 he was the Conclavist of Cardinal de Luynes in the papal election that produced

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...

(Braschi). He was made secretary, then

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

, and in 1790, successor, to his uncle, the

Bishop of Troyes The Diocese of Troyes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Trecensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Troyes'') is a Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt ...

. In 1790, he refused to take the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy, explaining his views and those of the Pope to the electors of his diocese in a pamphlet in the form of a letter. He then withdrew from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and later to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 1801 he returned home, and wrote a forceful pamphlet on the subject of bishops resigning their offices at the request of Pope Pius VII. Under the new concordat between France and the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

, Barral was appointed to govern the

Diocese of Meaux The Roman Catholic Diocese of Meaux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Meldensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Meaux'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Seine-et-Marne. It was suff ...

, and in 1805 was promoted to the

Archbishopric of Tours The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tours (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Turonensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Tours'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd cen ...

. During the long and harassing negotiations which

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

carried on with

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 ...

, while the latter was virtually a prisoner at

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

and

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

, Archbishop de Barral acted frequently as the emperor's intermediary. He was afterwards appointed almoner to the

Empress Josephine An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

, and he pronounced her funeral oration. Later still he was named a Senator and a Count of the Empire. On the downfall of Napoleon, the archbishop took his seat in the Chamber of Peers under

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

, and in the government of the "

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

", which followed on the return of Napoleon from

Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National ...

, he still retained his political position. On the second restoration of the

Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish ...

, however, he was obliged to resign, and from this time till his death, which occurred in the following year, he confined himself entirely to the administration of his archdiocese. He has left among other works: ''Fragments relatifs à l'histoire ecclésiastique des premières années du XIXe siècle'' (Paris, 1814); and a posthumous work, published by his brother: ''Défense des libertés de l'église gallicane et de l'assemblée du clergé de France tenue en 1682, ou réfutation de plusieurs ouvrages publiés récemment en Angleterre sur l'infaillibilité du Pape'' (Paris, 1817).

References

Sources

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Acknowledgment

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barral, Louis-Mathias, Count De 1746 births 1816 deaths Clergy from Grenoble Bishops of Meaux Archbishops of Tours Bishops of Troyes Counts of the First French Empire Members of the Sénat conservateur Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Hundred Days 18th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France 19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France French expatriates in Switzerland French expatriates in the Kingdom of Great Britain