Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval (1724-1808) was a French cardinal of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Bishop of Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

at the time of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

Early life

He was born 11 December 1724 in the Castle of Baillet in the town of Bayers, then in the ancient Province of

Angoumois Angoumois (), historically the County of Angoulême, was a county and province of France, originally inferior to the parent duchy of Aquitaine, similar to the Périgord to its east but lower and generally less forested, equally with occasional vin ...

, now part of the Department of Charente. He was the son of Guy André de Montmorency-Laval and of Marie-Anne de Turménies de Nointel, and younger brother of Guy André Pierre de Montmorency-Laval. The family name is sometimes rendered as Laval-Montmorency. As a young man, Montmorency-Laval studied at the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, where he obtained a licentiate in

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

. The date of his reception of Holy Orders as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

is lost, but he was made

Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop' ...

of the

Archdiocese of Sens The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens and Auxerre (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Senonensis et Antissiodorensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Sens et Auxerre'') is a Latin Rite Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese compri ...

Bishop and cardinal

Montmorency-Laval was nominated as the new

Bishop of Orléans 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 ...

by King

Louis XV of France 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 reache ...

on 7 November 1753. This was confirmed by 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 R ...

on 14 January 1754. He was consecrated a bishop on 10 February 1754, at the

Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

, by Christophe de Beaumont du Repaire, Archbishop of Paris, assisted by Étienne-René Potier de Gesvres, Bishop of Beauvais, and Pierre-Jules-César de Rochechouard-Montigny, Bishop of Bayeux. After service in that post for four years, Montmorency-Laval was named Bishop of Condom, where he remained for two years before being appointed

in 1760, a post he occupied until 1801. He was also appointed in 1786 Grand Almoner of France, and on 30 March 1789 Pope Pius VI created him a cardinal.

Exile and death

During the

Montmorency-Laval left France and lived in exile in the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway, settling in the town of Altona, now a part of Germany. He was not able to participate at the 1799–1800 Papal conclave, the only one for which he would have been eligible to vote. Montmorency-Laval died in exile in Altona on 17 June 1808. His body was initially buried at the local church of St. Joseph of the "Greater Freedom" (german: Großer Freiheit). In 1900 the remains were removed and reburied in the crypt of the Cathedral of Metz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montmorency-Laval, Louis-Joseph de 1724 births 1808 deaths People from Charente Louis-Joseph 18th-century French cardinals Bishops of Condom Bishops of Metz Bishops of Orléans Burials in Germany Burials at Metz Cathedral Cardinals created by Pope Pius VI