Jules-Géraud Saliège (24 February 1870 – 5 November 1956) was a French
Cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. He served as
Archbishop of Toulouse from 1928 until his death, and was a significant figure in
Catholic resistance to Nazism in France. He was elevated to the
cardinalate in 1946 by
Pope Pius XII. For his efforts to protect Jews during the
Nazi Holocaust he was recognised as
Righteous among the Nations by
Yad Vashem.
Biography
Born in
Mauriac, Cantal, in the
Diocese of Saint-Flour, Jules-Géraud Saliège studied at the
Seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...
of
Saint-Sulpice in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
before being
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...
to the
priesthood on 21 September 1895. He then taught at the
minor seminary in
Pleaux until 1903, and at the seminary in Saint-Flour from 1903 to 1907, when he was named its
rector. He was made an
honorary canon of the
cathedral chapter of Saint-Flour on 14 September 1905, before becoming an honorary
vicar general on 31 March 1918. During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he served as a military
chaplain.
On 29 October 1925, Saliège was appointed
Bishop of Gap by
Pope Pius XI. He received his
episcopal consecration on 26 January 1926, from Bishop Paul-Augustine Lecoeur, with Bishops Benjamin Roland-Gosselin and Hippolyte de La Celle serving as
co-consecrators, in
Saint-Flour Cathedral. Saliège was later named
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 ...
of
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
on 17 December 1928.
Nazi period
During the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
occupation of France, he was outspoken in attacking the German treatment of
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and
conscription of Frenchmen. For his criticism of the Nazis' and Vichy's anti-Jewish policies, he was praised by the Vatican newspaper.
With the free press silenced in
Vichy France
Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...
,
Charles Lederman, a Jewish Communist approached Saliège, to alert public opinion to what was being done to the Jews. He told Saliège of the arrests, kidnappings and deportations. Saliège read his famous Pastoral letter the following Sunday. Other bishops -
Monseigneur Théas,
Bishop of Montauban,
Monseigneur Delay,
Bishop of Marseilles,
Cardinal Gerlier,
Archbishop of Lyon,
Monseigneur Vansteenberghe of Bayonne and
Monseigneur Moussaron,
Archbishop of Albi - also denounced the roundups from the pulpit and through parish distributions, in defiance of the Vichy regime. The protest of the bishops is seen by various historians as a turning point in the formerly passive response of the Catholic Church in France.
[Martin Gilbert; The Righteous - The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust; Doubleday; 2002; ; p.230]
Saliège wrote to his parishioners: "The Jews are real men and women. Not everything is permitted against these men and women, against these fathers and mothers. They are part of the human species. They are our brothers like so many others. A Christian should not forget this". The words encouraged other clerics like the Capuchin priest
Père Marie-Benoît.
[A litany of World War Two saints](_blank)
Jerusalem Post; 11 April 2008.
Post-war
Pope Pius XII created him
Cardinal Priest of ''
S. Pudenziana'' in the
consistory of 18 February 1946. In 1950, the Cardinal
excommunicated a priest within his
archdiocese for rejecting the
dogma of the
Assumption of Mary
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows:
It leaves open the question of w ...
. He also encouraged the
Christianization
Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...
of society.
Saliège died in Toulouse, at age 86. He is buried in
Saint-Étienne Cathedral, Toulouse.
He was posthumously awarded the title ''
Righteous among the Nations'' by
Yad Vashem.
References
External links
Catholic-Hierarchy– his activity to save Jews' lives during the
Holocaust, at
Yad Vashem website
Jules-Géraud Saliège- commemoration and photos, at Yad Vashem website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saliege, Jules-Geraud
1870 births
1956 deaths
People from Mauriac, Cantal
20th-century French cardinals
Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII
Bishops of Gap
Archbishops of Toulouse
French Righteous Among the Nations
French military chaplains
World War I chaplains
Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany
Catholic Righteous Among the Nations