Pierre de Langle (6 March 1643, in
Evreux – 12 April 1724, in
Boulogne-Sur-Mer) was a French bishop and
Jansenist theologian.
Life
At the request of his friend
Bossuet, he was made tutor to
Louis Alexandre, Count of Toulouse
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon (6 June 1678 – 1 December 1737), a legitimated prince of the blood royal, was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. At the age of five, he became grand admiral of ...
. He was abbot of
Saint-Lôfrom 24 December 1694 ; in 1698,
Louis XIV of France rewarded him for his teaching duties by making him
bishop of Boulogne
The former French Catholic diocese of Boulogne existed from 1567 to the French Revolution. It was created after the diocese of Thérouanne was suppressed because of war damage to the see; effectively this was a renaming. The Concordat of 1801 su ...
, nominating him on 29 March 1698, with the bulls to that effect coming out on 15 September the same year.
De Langle did little of note until the publication of the papal bull ''
Unigenitus'', in response to which he published his 1717 ''Mandement''. This was an appeal but led to his disgrace at court and violence in his diocese, with the inhabitants of
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
rising in rebellion and those of
Quernes beating de Langle with sticks and throwing stones when he visited them. He thus became part of the 'Appelant' movement alongside
Jean Soanen,
Pierre de La Broue and
Charles-Joachim Colbert de Croissy
Charles-Joachim Colbert de Croissy (11 June 1667 – 8 April 1738) was a bishop of Montpellier from 1697.
He was a son of Charles Colbert, marquis de Croissy and a nephew of Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
As an ardent Jansenist he had père François- ...
, calling for a church council to discuss the bull. He and de Croissy opposed the 1720 compromise, causing the
Duke of Orleans to banish de Langle from his own diocese.
Sources
* Augustin Gazier, ''Histoire du mouvement janséniste depuis ses origines jusqu’à nos jours'', t. 1, Paris, Honoré Champion, 1924, p. 256.
* C. Landrin, ''Un prélat gallican, Pierre de Langle, évêque de Boulogne (1644-1724)'', Calais, Imprimerie J. Peumery, 1905
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langle, Pierre de
Bishops of Boulogne
1643 births
1724 deaths
17th-century French theologians
Jansenists
18th-century French Catholic theologians