Pierre-Paul Guérin de Tencin (

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- ...

, 22 August 1679 – 2 March 1758), French ecclesiastic, was archbishop of Embrun and Lyon, and a cardinal. His sister was Claudine Guérin de Tencin.

Biography

After studying with the

Oratorians An Oratorian is a member of one of the following religious orders: * Oratory of Saint Philip Neri (Roman Catholic), who use the postnominal letters C.O. * Oratory of Jesus (Roman Catholic) * Oratory of the Good Shepherd (Anglican) * Teologisk Orator ...

in his native Grenoble, he entered the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, where he became prior in 1702, and obtained the doctorate in 1705. He was then appointed Vicar-General of the diocese of Sens and, in 1721, accompanied

Cardinal de Rohan Louis René Édouard de Rohan known as Cardinal de Rohan (25 September 1734 – 16 February 1803), ''prince de Rohan-Guéméné'', was a French Bishop of Strasbourg, politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and cadet of the Rohan f ...

to Rome as his

conclavist A conclavist was a personal aide of a cardinal present in a papal conclave. The term is sometimes used to refer to all present with a conclave, including the cardinal-electors, but is more properly applied only to the non-cardinals. Conclavists pl ...

, to support the candidacy of Cardinal Conti (

Innocent XIII Pope Innocent XIII ( la, Innocentius XIII; it, Innocenzo XIII; 13 May 1655 – 7 March 1724), born as Michelangelo dei Conti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 May 1721 to his death in March 1724. He is ...

), from whom he had obtained a promise to bestow the purple on the French minister

Guillaume Dubois Guillaume Dubois (6 September 1656 – 10 August 1723) was a French cardinal and statesman. Life and government Early years Dubois, the third of the four great Cardinal-Ministers ( Richelieu, Mazarin, Dubois, and Fleury), was born in Brive-l ...

. He remained at Rome as French ''chargé d'affaires'', with the appointment '' in commendam'' of abbot of Trois-Fontaines to support him (1739–1753), until Benedict XIII, with whom he was on cordial terms of intimacy and very influential, consecrated him Archbishop of Embrun (26 June 1724). On 22 February 1739, Guérin de Tencin was created cardinal, of the titulus of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus. He remained at Rome as French ambassador until 1742, when he took possession of the archepiscopal see of Lyon, to which he had succeeded on 19 November 1740.

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

appointed him minister of state in September 1742, though he held no portfolio, and Commander of the Order of Saint-Esprit. He was overzealous in the persecution of the

Jansenists Jansenism was an Early modern period, early modern Christian theology, theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human Total depravity, depravity, the necessity of divine g ...

, and, at the provincial synod which he held at Embrun from 16 August to 28 September 1727, he suspended

Jean Soanen Jean Soanen (1647–1740) was a French Oratorian and bishop of Senez. He was a convinced Jansenist. In opposition to the papal bull ''Unigenitus'', he with Charles-Joachim Colbert, bishop of Montpellier, Pierre de la Broue who was bishop of Mi ...

Bishop of Senez The former French Catholic diocese of Senez existed from around the fifth or sixth century, until the French Revolution. Its see was at Senez, in southern France, in the modern department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. After the Concordat of 1801 th ...

, a prelate eighty years of age, who had appealed against the Bull ''

Unigenitus ''Unigenitus'' (named for its Latin opening words ''Unigenitus dei filius'', or "Only-begotten son of God") is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Clement XI in 1713. It opened the final phase of the Jansen ...

''. After the death in 1743 of André-Hercule Cardinal de Fleury, the prime minister to whom he owed much of his political advancement, his influence began to decrease. The death of Claudine Guérin de Tencin, his salonist sister, in 1749 removed some of his political ambition, and in 1752 he retired to his see of Lyons.

Notes

References

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Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church:
Pierre Guérin de Tencin {{DEFAULTSORT:Tencin, Pierre 1679 births 1758 deaths Clergy from Grenoble University of Paris alumni 18th-century French cardinals Archbishops of Lyon Conclavists 18th century in Lyon