Charles François d’Aviau du Bois de Sanzay – Wikipedia

Charles François of Aviau du Bois de Sanzay is a French archbishop, born on August 7, 1736 and dead the July 11, 1826 in Bordeaux. He made his seminar in Angers and then held a first position in Poitiers.

After its consecration the January 3, 1790 , he was first named Archbishop of Vienna and then appointed Archbishop of Bordeaux from 1802 to 1826.

Childhood [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Son of the Count and the Countess of Aviau, Charles François was born the August 7, 1736 At the Château du Bois de Sanzay. He is the eldest of a siblings of five children, followed by Jean-Marie d’Aviau, who will be colonel in a cavalry regiment, of Xavier d’Aviau who will also integrate the army, of Thérèse d’Aviau, who will quickly die of illness and finally, from Aviau’s victory which will go to the Carmel of Poitiers and became the prioress ^{[ A 1 ]} .

During his baptism, his sponsor, his uncle, François d’Aviau, infantry captain and for godmother, his aunt, Louise-Marguerite d’Aviau ^{[ A 2 ]} .

He stood out all his childhood by his wisdom and his piety ^{[ A 3 ]} .

His mother fell ill shortly after and died in 1745, while Charles François was only nine years old.

The same year, Mr. d’Aviau decided to send Charles François in pension to the Henri-IV college in La Flèche ^{[ A 4 ]} , famous Jesuit college founded by the king Henri IV . There, he quickly became friends with a child who joined the college the same year, the young Alexandre-Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord ^{[ A 5 ]} which will become a few years later Cardinal. He mainly pursues, at La Flèche, rhetorical lessons and obtained seven honors. It was also during his schooling at La Flèche that he made his first communion ^{[ A 6 ]} .

In November 1751 , Charles François goes to the royal college of Poitiers, also run by the Jesuits, to do his philosophy and his mathematics there ^{[ A 7 ]} . He is thus noticed by his solid knowledge and his intelligence when he supported his theses of philosophy and mathematics in June 1753; He was only 17 years old.

Charles François then returned to the Château de Bois de Sanzay. His father hoping for him to make a career in the army deposited, without warning him, a request to the Count of Argenson, Secretary of State of the War, for him to go to committee for obtaining A cavalry captain certificate ^{[ A 8 ]} .

When he learns the news, Charles François announces to his father that he wishes to embrace an ecclesiastical career. His father and uncle and godfather, colonel of cavalry in the Luxembourg regiment are trying to convince him, but without success. He is not supported in his project to serve God only by one of his uncles, Father Jacques d’Aviau de Relai, canon of Saint-Hilaire and ecclesiastical of the diocese of Poitiers ^{[ A 9 ]} . His father then ended up giving in and grants him permission.

It is thus, when entering the seminar, that Charles François renounces his birthday right for the benefit of his Powerful brother.

Seminar [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Barely 18 years old, Charles François entered the Angers seminar to continue his theology studies there. After six months, the 10 mars 1754 , he receives tonsure ^{[ A 10 ]} By Jean de Vaugirault, bishop of Angers, and puts the cassock and the overplisation. He thus takes the stage of the year of propédeutics.

During his studies at the seminar, he works to work on theology and the holy Scriptures and takes advantage of the intervals between his lessons to learn Hebrew. Having good results, he became a lecturer and is responsible for making his comrades work.

In 1758, at the age of 21, he was sent to Nantes to be promoted to the sub-diaconate. A year later, the June 9, 1759 ^{[ A 11 ]} , he is ordered deacon to Angers by Jacques de Grasse, replacing Jean de Vaugirault, who died shortly before.

Finally, the September 20, 1760 ^{[ A 12 ]} , he is ordained a priest in the chapel of the Angers seminar by the bishop, Jacques de Grasse.

Once priest, he does not leave the Angers seminar but continues his studies to obtain grades in theology. He then studied theology for six months. There followed a “theological fight” to which many people come to attend. During this session, he was questioned by priests and experts in theology but he is good and answers with Aplomb to all the questions ^{[ A 13 ]} . After the deliberation of the jury, it is officially proclaimed, the June 30, 1761 ^{[ A 14 ]} Doctor of the Faculty of Theology of Angers. He then takes an oath on the Gospels to “support and defend with all his power and all his Credit Catholic, which a sacrilege and impious coalition would strive to shake more and more in the hearts of the faithful” ^{[ A 15 ]} .

First post in the diocese of Poitiers [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

At the end of the seminar, the Abbé d’Aviau attaches to Poitiers. There, he worked for preaching, communities management and charity. He takes the direction of Carmel de Poitiers ^{[ A 16 ]} And that’s how his sister puts in Aviau’s victory. It is also requested by the sisters of wisdom and then becomes superior of their establishment in Poitiers.

He continues to study, in his spare time, the Holy Scriptures and the authors and begins to write works on very diverse subjects. We find it in particular: Mélanie and Lucette or The advantages of religious education . In 1769, he became canon of the chapter of Saint-Hilaire.

The Abbé d’Aviau, having an increasing reputation, is offered posts by bishops of neighboring regions. The bishop of La Rochelle, François-Joseph-Emmanuel de Crussol d’Uzès, offers him the Cathedral and Bernardin de Rosset de Fleury’s decan offers him the great vicariate of the city of Tours; But he refuses them.

He then took charge of the management of the Poitiers seminar entrusted to him by his bishop. Martial-Louis de Beaupoil de Saint-Aulaire, very satisfied with the Abbé d’Aviau, entrusted him with the mission of Grand Vicar. The Abbé d’Aviau therefore accompanies his bishop in all his trips through the diocese.

The May 10, 1774 , King Louis XV dies. Instructions are then sent to all the dioceses of France in order to celebrate a Requiem office for the rest of his soul. The office takes place on July 30, 1774 in the cathedral of Poitiers and it is the abbot of Aviau who is responsible for pronouncing the funeral oration, the text of which will then be printed ^{[ A 17 ]} .

The Abbé d’Aviau must then face a heretical threat from Father Briquet. Indeed, the July 13, 1787 ^{[ A 18 ]} , the latter defended a heretical thesis on the ” Will of God and the predestination of man ». The Bishop of Poitiers being at this time in Paris for a clerical assembly, the Abbé d’Aviau must take matters into his own hands. Thus, after having asked Father Briquet to retract, which he refuses, he must dismiss him from his ecclesiastical functions.

Archbishopric of Vienna (1790-1801) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 1790, the Abbé d’Aviau was appointed to the archiepiscopal seat of Vienna; He then succeeded Jean-Georges Lefranc de Pompignan. This arouses a certain excitement in the high place insofar as D’Aviau has moved from a simple canon status to one of the first seats of Gaul. Thus, the December 14, 1789 ^{[ A 19 ]} , Pope Near WE sanction his appointment in a consistory on the eve of the Christmas holidays.

The January 3, 1790 , in the chapel of the Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice, the nuncio of Dugnani, archbishop of Rhodes, devotes from Aviau with Jean-René Asseline and Jean-Charles de Coucy, respectively bishops of Boulogne-sur-Mer and La Rochelle . D’Aviau arrives in Vienna the first ^is mars 1790 And takes possession of his seat after a great ceremony.

During this period, the French Revolution takes place. THE February 13, 1790 , The law on the abolition of monastic wishes is voted by the Constituent Assembly which does not prevent Aviau from receiving, a month later, the wishes of nuns, and this, under the disapproving gaze of agents of authority ^{[ A 20 ]} . Shortly after, on July 12, was promulgated by the Constituent Assembly, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Quickly, a minority opposes it by recalling, in a letter, the doctrine of the Church in this regard. D’Aviau is one of the first to join this by affixing his signature. Among those who oppose it, we find in particular: MM. de Boisgelin, Maury and Cazalès. On November 11, D’Aviau published a pastoral letter entitled: “Warning to the regular and secular clergy as well as to the faithful of the diocese of Vienna” ^{[ A 21 ]} . In this letter, he denounces the decree of the Constituent Assembly as: “an impious, heretical and blasphemous work”.

True to the Pope, D’Aviau has to face numerous attacks by revolutionaries. Churches of his diocese are saved and his archiepiscopal palace is attacked. During the administrative assembly of the Isère Department, on November 26, of Aviau was accused of “wanting to import in France, ultramontaine maxims”. He is also accused “of having published an incendiary brochure, in which the abuse of the sacred text was combined with the contempt of the laws and the criminal oblivion of the duties of the citizen, in which the spirit of insurrection and revolt was Presented under a mystical envelope as a means of salvation and sanctification, in which, finally, a Minister of the God of Peace, of the God who, by his death, gave the example of submission to the powers, ignores national sovereignty, organizes The riot and crowd the decrees that emanate from his high wisdom ”. At the end of this assembly, from Aviau is accused of crime of the nation-nation and all the churches of the diocese are condemned to be closed. Boissy d’Anglas, a third party deputy for the Estates General, denounces in the National Assembly, the archbishop as being a “disturbing of public order”.

The November 29, 1791 , the decree against refractory priests is voted and gives local administrators the possibility of deporting the priests from their home in the event of a disorder. D’Aviau must therefore go into exile ^{[ A 22 ]} With the other priests refusing to take an oath to the civil constitution of the clergy. He therefore arrived in Chambéry during the winter of the same year, from where he remains in connection with the loyal elements of his clergy.

After the execution of Louis XVI , the January 21, 1793 , the various European kingdoms support Vendée and Breton insurrections. D’Aviau decides to go to Switzerland so as not to stay in a country at war against France. Unable to return to France during terror, he goes to Italy, not only to find a better asylum, but also to plead the cause of persecuted Christians in France.

In 1796, during the Italian campaign, General Bonaparte conquered Italy. During this same period, calm returned to France. This is how D’Aviau asks the pope Near WE His approval ^{[ B 1 ]} To return to his diocese of Vienna. He therefore left Rome at the beginning of May 1797 to arrive three months later at their destination.

Nevertheless, his return to France is not done without incidents. Hit as an “enemy of the constitution of year III”, he is forced to hide and often changes home ^{[ B 2 ]} . He will find refuge in particular in Lyon.

In 1799, General Bonaparte returned from Egypt and took power. The right to exercise worship is restored and the churches are returned to the priests who submit to the government in place.

D’Aviau strongly advises clergymen to do this act of submission, which not all accept ^{[ B 3 ]} , by responding to Virgile’s verse: ” I’m afraid of Danaos and Give “(” I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts “).

D’Aviau works a lot on rebuilding his diocese and the institutions put down during the Revolution. Thus, in November 1800, a college was opened under his leadership in Annonay. This college has around fifty students in the first year and then, three years later, more than 140 ^{[ B 4 ]} . In view of the crowd, the college boarding school settled in the Cordeliers convent.

The January 17, 1801 ^{[ B 5 ]} , on the occasion of the entry into the XIX ^{It is} A century, he published a mandate for the attention of the faithful of the diocese in which he denounced the philosophy of the Enlightenment and the many misdeeds accomplished in previous years.

In 1802, D’Aviau was appointed to take over the archiepiscopal seat of Bordeaux, Guyenne, replacing Jérôme Cicé champion. This decision is made by the first consul and Joseph Fouché, then Minister of Police ^{[ B 6 ]} . By learning his appointment to the archiepiscopal siege in Bordeaux, of Aviau, hesitates to accept such responsibility, given his age (66 years), from the distance from his current post in Vienna and the magnitude of the task. However, Father Cartal, his former vicar general of Vienna, manages to convince him. D’Aviau then informed, in a letter, the State Councilor, Portalis, which he agreed to accept this responsibility ^{[ B 7 ]} .

Archbishopric of Bordeaux (1802-1826) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

After a visit to Paris and Carmel de Poitiers, from Aviau arrived in Bordeaux one evening in July 1802 ^{[ B 8 ]} .

The Saint-André basilica being unusable when it arrived because of the important degradations that occurred during the Revolution, it is the Notre-Dame church, located nearby, which acts as a cathedral ^{[ B 9 ]} , the time that the most urgent repairs are made in Saint-André.

The Archbishop of Bordeaux undertakes the reconstruction of the archdiocese, both material, with the restoration of the numerous dilapidated and spiritual places of worship, with the reintegration of the jurors wishing to be reconciled with the church, under reserve of an act of membership on their part. There followed a fight between D’Aviau and the prefect of the Gironde, Dieudonné Dubois ^{[ B 10 ]} , the latter finding unacceptable that the jurors are not reintegrated automatically. Tired of the many obstacles he successively meets, he plans to resign, but the bishops of the surroundings are working to divert him from this project. Seeing that the talks with the prefect lead to nothing, from Aviau decides to speak, in a letter, to the first consul in person. Shortly after, the Gironde prefect was replaced by Charles-François Delacroix, named the April 23, 1803 .

The December 2, 1804 , Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned emperor of the French under the title of Napoleon I ^is . At the announcement of the coronation, from Aviau wrote to him a letter of congratulations, to which the emperor replied by sending the cross of the Legion of Honor with the title of officer. The Archbishop, however, refuses this distinction by saying that in his opinion, a bishop was enough to wear, hanged on his neck, his pectoral cross ^{[ B 11 ]} . He transmitted his refusal by Portalis, then Minister of worship.

D’Aviau has to face another threat from a priest who decides to marry the daughter of a mayor with whom he already has a relationship. This priest, Marc Boisset, poses this act deliberately, in order to provoke the religious institution. The Archbishop of Bordeaux must then react. After many supplications with the Minister of Cult, the latter wrote to him, in a letter from January 14, 1806 ^{[ B 12 ]} , that his request was accepted:

“Mr. Archbishop, I have the satisfaction to announce that S. M. I. and R. (His Imperial and Royal Majesty), in consideration of the good of religion and customs, has just ordered that he would be defended to all The civil status officers to receive the marriage certificate from the Boisset priest. »»

The workforce of the great seminar of Bordeaux being reduced, of Aviau decides to install, in the buildings of the former seminar of Bazas, a small seminar. This school quickly experienced significant success and its workforce achieved more than 150 students From the first year.

In 1811, from Aviau du Bois de Sanzay was summoned to the Council of Paris ^{[ B 13 ] , [ C 1 ]} , to which he makes himself in haste. Napoleon wishing to have his conduct approved towards the Pope by the bishops, the Archbishop of Bordeaux pronounces against the Emperor, who does not exercise any reprisals against him ^{[ first ]} .

All devoted to the Old Regime, he eagerly welcomed the return of the Bourbons: he receives with great fanfare the Duke of Angoulême at the door of the Bordeaux cathedral, and said to him:

“Afflicted by a series of calamities, we groaned while we add our prayers to heaven, so that he dawn put an end to it; We do not assume to be agitated by fear and hope. These painful emotions are finally calmed by the presence of your Royal Highness, etc. ^{[ first ]} »

During the period of the first restoration, Louis XVIII sent a missive to the bishops of France in which he asked them to resign ^{[ B 14 ]} . D’Aviau not understanding such an act then responds to the king that he will only resign if the Holy Father asks him.

D’Aviau is appointed commander of the order of the Holy Spirit during the promotion of September 30, 1820 , in the company of MM. de Montesquiou, Bausset and Luzerne. He is called the August 4, 1821 at La Pairie; He sat among the ardent defenders of royalty ^{[ first ]} (He was already counting of the Empire).

The July 11, 1826 , he succumbed to the consequences of an accident: the fire took the curtains of his bed, and despite rapid help, he was fatally reached. Equipped with all the sacraments, from Aviau du Bois de Sanzay dies, having as last word: ” In your hands, I commend my (Which means “in your hands, Lord, I put my mind”). His funeral were celebrated the July 18 with great solemnity and at state costs. The Count of Marcellus, his colleague in the upper House, devotes him, on 23, in The daily newspaper , organ of “Ultra-Royalists” , a necrological notice:

“The life of the Holy Prélate was a holocaust Perpetual … Christian France will forever remember its noble resistance to the wills of the despot, its courageous obedience to the Church, its inviolable attachment to the center of Catholic unity and to the vicar of Jesus Christ. It is a prelate worthy of the first centuries, said Near WE . Near VII called him a holy and learned prelate, ‘ one saint and a learned » ; and, always faithful sheep of the great herd entrusted to Saint Peter and his successors, he fixed with respect for his last looks on the features of Leon XII , whose portrait adorned his modest room, in parallel with that of Charles X . These nobles and pious feelings were transmitted to him by the respectable family who had the happiness of giving such a prelate to the church, and of which all the members, worthy of the heroic and Christian Vendée, adorned the sanctuary by their virtues or defended their king under the flags of their princes ^{[ first ]} »

His sculpted tomb, with his statue, is in the Saint Charles Borromée chapel of the Saint André Cathedral of Bordeaux ^{[ 2 ]} . His heart is in the Saint Hilaire de Poitiers collegiate church, under a black marble plate, in the right transept ^{[ 3 ]} . A rue de Bordeaux is named after ^{[ 4 ]} .

Distinctions [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Count of the Empire, title transmitted to one of his nephews, letters patent of March 18, 1809 ^{[ 5 ]} ;
• Officer of the Legion of Honor;
• Commander of the Order of the Holy Spirit, promotion of September 30, 1820;
• Pair from France, order of August 4, 1821 ^{[ 6 ] , [ 7 ]} .

Related articles [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Jean Paul François Marie Lyonnet , History of M ^gr d’Aviau du Bois-de-Sanzay: successively archbishop of Vienna and Bordeaux , vol. 1, J.B. Pélagaud et Cie, 1847 , 701 p. ( read online )
• Jean Paul François Marie Lyonnet , History of M ^gr d’Aviau du Bois-de-Sanzay: successively archbishop of Vienna and Bordeaux , vol. 2, J.B. Pélagaud et Cie, 1847 , 812 p. ( read online )
• Ceremonial of the National Council of Paris: held the year 1811 , Clere, 1811 , 58 p. ( read online )
• “Aviau du Bois de Sanzay (Charles-François, count of” , in Adolphe Robert and Gaston Cougny, French parliamentary dictionary , Edgar Bourloton, 1889-1891 [Edition detail] ;
• Jean Dissard, S. J., Monsignor Charles-François d’Aviau 1736-1826 , 1953, Bordeaux, Delmas, 237 p. ;
• André Deforges, Les Illustres de Bordeaux: catalog , vol. 2, Bordeaux, Aquitaine files, 2014 , 80 p. (ISBN  978-2-84622-255-6 , Online presentation ) .

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