César-Guillaume La Luzerne (7 July 1738 - 21 June 1821) was a

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 ...

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man. He was a minor statesman of the French Revolution, and a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

and important figure of the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

Family and early life

La Luzerne's father, Cesar-Antoine, was a

Maréchal de camp ''Maréchal de camp'' (sometimes incorrectly translated as field marshal) was a general officer rank used by the French Army until 1848. The rank originated from the older rank of sergeant major general ( French: ''sergent-major général'') ...

in the king's army. His mother was Marie-Elisabeth de Lamoignon de Blancmesnil (1716-1758), the daughter of Lord Chancellor Lamoignon (served 1750–1768) and the sister of the Secretary of State Malesherbes. His brothers were

César Henri, comte de La Luzerne César Henri Guillaume de La Luzerne (23 February 1737, Paris – 24 March 1799, château de Bernau, near Linz), seigneur de Beuzeville et de Rilly, baron de Chambon, was a French politician and soldier, rising to Lieutenant général des armée ...

, Naval Minister (1787-1790) and Anne-César, ambassador to the United States and to the court of London. Cesar-Guillaume was the middle son and so intended by his family to go into the church, and so attended the seminary of Saint-Magloire. In 1754, while Cesar-Guillaume was still a young man, his grandfather arranged his appointment to the position of

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of Notre Dame Cathedral. In 1756, he was named abbot of

Mortemer Abbey Mortemer Abbey (, ) is a former Cistercian monastery in the Forest of Lyons between the present Lyons-la-Forêt and Lisors, some southeast of Rouen in the department of Eure. It is located on the territory of the commune of Lisors. History I ...

. His studies at

Collège de Navarre The College of Navarre (, ) was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris. It rivaled the University of Paris, Sorbonne and was renowned for its library. History The college was founded by Queen Joan I of Navarre in 1305, who provi ...

continued throughout this time, and he so distinguished himself that when, in 1762,

Arthur Richard Dillon Arthur Richard Dillon (1721–1806) was archbishop of Narbonne in France. He was the youngest son of Arthur Dillon (1670–1733), who came to France with Mountcashel's Irish Brigade. At the French Revolution he refused the civil constitutio ...

was appointed

Archbishop of Narbonne The former Catholic diocese of Narbonne existed from early Christian times until the French Revolution. It was an archdiocese, with its see at Narbonne, from the year 445, and its influence ran over much of south-western France and into Cataloni ...

, he chose La Luzerne for his Great Vicar. In 1765, he was named Agent-General of the Clergy of the ecclesiastical province of

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, a very challenging position at that time, because of the challenges that occurred between the clergy and the

parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

s. His closest ally in these struggles was Jérôme Champion de Cicé.

Bishop of Langres

On 24 June 1770 the king appointed La Luzerne to the very prestigious position of Duke-Bishop of Langres, (an ancient

French peerage The Peerage of France () was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France () was held by the greatest, highest-ranking members of the Fr ...

). Despite the promotion he remained Canon of Notre Dame and in this capacity performed many state funerals including that of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), 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 maturity (then defi ...

in 1774. La Luzerne took his duties very seriously and invested heavily in renovations to church property, establishing seminaries, and conducting synods and assemblies. Catholicism flourished in his diocese under his watch. As a Duke-Bishop he had a right to participate in the

Assembly of Notables An Assembly of Notables () was a group of high-ranking nobles, ecclesiastics, and state functionaries convened by the King of France on extraordinary occasions to consult on matters of state. Assemblymen were prominent men, usually of the aristo ...

(1787-1788).

French Revolution

La Luzerne was elected by the Second Estate of the bailiwick of

Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital ...

to the Estates-General (1789). He was from the very beginning an opponent of the doubling of the

Third Estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

and of the union of orders, and despaired at the foundation of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. He was elected president of the assembly (31 August 1789 - 9 September) but resigned within days in protest of a speech made by the marquis de Lally-Tollendall. He withdrew from the National Assembly after the

October Days The Women's March on Versailles, also known as the Black March, the October Days or simply the March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The march began among women in the marketplaces o ...

(5–6 October 1789) and officially resigned in December 1789. In 1791, he refused to take the constitutional oath; his opposition to the reorganisation of the church seriously damaged its viability, and he united opposition under him. He soon after fled France, emigrating to

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and

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, where he gave hospitality to French exiles and wrote extensively. Under the Restoration he returned to France, became cardinal and state minister (1817) and was re-appointed to the See of Langres which he had resigned at the time of the Concordat.

Works

An excellent apologist and a lucid expounder of Catholic faith and Christian ethics, La Luzerne, like

Denis-Luc Frayssinous Denis-Antoine-Luc, comte de Frayssinous (9 May 176512 December 1841) was a French prelate and statesman, orator and writer. He was the eighth member elected to occupy Seat 3 of the Académie Française in 1822. Biography De Frayssinous was born ...

, Talleyrand-Périgord and Bausset, was a belated representative of the old

Gallicanism Gallicanism is the belief that popular secular authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has something ...

. His efforts to revive it failed, owing partly to the fall of the Bourbons and partly because of the writers who, in "L'Avenir" and other publications, gave to France a definite Roman orientation. His principal works are: * (Paris, 1774) * (Venice, 1795–1799) * (Venice, 1807) * (Paris, 1821).

References

Sources

* in

Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a ...

, *Deimie in , s. v. * René François Rohrbacher, , ed. Gaume, IV (Paris, 1869), 623 *Belamy, (Paris, 1904 *Baunard, (Paris, 1902) ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Luzerne 1738 births 1821 deaths University of Paris alumni 19th-century French cardinals Bishops of Langres Clergy from Paris 18th-century peers of France Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration State ministers of France Cardinals created by Pope Pius VII