Charles Théodore Colet (30 April 1806 – 27 November 1883) was a French

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Life

Colet was born in

Gérardmer Gérardmer (; or archaic ''Geroldsee'', and ''Giraumoué'' in local Lorrain language, Vosgian) is a communes of France, commune in the Vosges (department), Vosges Department, Grand Est (before 2016: Lorraine (region), Lorraine), France. It is nic ...

in France and was ordained a priest in 1831. In 1838 he became private secretary to François-Victor Rivet, Bishop of Dijon, and later served as Rivet's vicar general, a position he held for twenty-three years. On August 26, 1860 he was made a Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. In June 1861,

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

nominated Colet to succeed François-Augustin Delamare as

bishop of Luçon A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

. Pope Pius IX approved the appointment the following month, and on August 25 Colet was consecrated bishop at the Cathedral of Saint Benignus in Dijon with his friend and mentor, Bishop Rivet, serving as principal consecrator. In 1869, Colet authorized a diocesan catechism. He attended the First Vatican Council, and voted with the minority against the doctrine of papal infallibility. On March 4, 1874, he was made an officer of the

. In November 1874, Colet was nominated to succeed Felix Pierre Fruchaud as

Archbishop of Tours The Archdiocese of Tours (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd century, while the formal erection of the diocese dates from the 5th century. The ecclesiastical pro ...

. In December, Pius IX approved the appointment, and Colet was installed at the Cathedral of Saint Gatianus in Tours on February 3, 1875. He supported

Leo Dupont Leo Dupont (24 January 1797 – 18 March 1876), also known as "the holy man of Tours" or "the apostle of the Holy Face", was a Roman Catholic layman who helped spread various devotions such as that of the Holy Face of Jesus and the nightly E ...

in his efforts to promote the local devotion to the

Holy Face of Jesus The Holy Face of Jesus is a title for specific images which some Catholics believe to be miraculously formed representations of the face of Jesus Christ. The image obtained from the Shroud of Turin is associated with a specific medal worn by s ...

. Dupont was well known among the Catholics of Tours for his piety and generosity. After Dupont's death in March 1876, the Archdiocese purchased his house on the Rue St. Etienne and established the

Oratory of the Holy Face The Oratory of the Holy Face is a Roman Catholic oratory in Tours France. It was originally established on the Rue St. Etienne, in the former home of Venerable Leo Dupont who did much to promote devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. The Oratory ...

. The chapel was staffed by a community of priests canonically established by Archbishop Colet and called the "Priests of the Holy Face".(The Oratory still stands, now administered by the French Dominicans as the earlier group is now defunct.) As he had done at Luçon, in 1879 he issued a diocesan catechism for Tours. Archbishop Colet died in Tours on 27 November 1883. His funeral was held at the cathedral with

Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert (; 13 December 1802 in Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône – 1886, Paris) was a French Catholic Archbishop of Paris and Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal. A member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, his tenur ...

, Cardinal Archbishop of Paris presiding.''La Semaine religieuse du diocèse de Tulle'', 8 décembre 1883, no 49, p. 669-670 Colet's tomb in the cathedral.

References

Sources

* * Dorothy Scallan. ''The Holy Man of Tours.'' (1990) * Georges Simon, in:

External links

* David M. Cheney, ''Catholic-Hierarchy.org''
Archbishop Charles-Théodore Colet †
retrieved: 2017-10-18. {{DEFAULTSORT:Colet, Charles Theodore 1806 births 1883 deaths Bishops of Luçon Archbishops of Tours 19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France