François-Marie Trégaro

François-Marie Trégaro

Tomb

Episcopal coat of arms (stained glass window in the sacrament chapel of the Cathedral of Sées )

François-Marie Trégaro (born June 19, 1824 in Peillac , † January 6, 1897 in Sées ) was a French military chaplain and bishop of the 19th century.

Life

François Trégaro attended the minor seminary in Sainte-Anne-d'Auray and studied theology at the major seminary in Vannes . In 1848 he was ordained a priest and took over the chaplaincy in Guer . Seconded to the Navy as a military chaplain by his bishop, he embarked for the Far East in March 1852. He took part in the Crimean War and the War against China and was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honor (1860). Aumônier supérieure since 1864 , in 1866, after the death of his predecessor Mgr. Coquereau , he was appointed chief military chaplain of the French Navy ( Aumônier général de la Marine ). He stayed in this office until it was abolished in 1878. He then went to Vannes as vicar general.

In 1871 he had refused the appointment to the bishopric of Bourbon ( Réunion ), but was appointed coadjutor of the diocese of Sées by the President of the Republic on September 27, 1881 , and was preconceived by the Pope as titular bishop of Doliche (November 18, 1881). Just two weeks later he succeeded his deceased predecessor Mgr. Rousselet as diocesan bishop and was consecrated on January 25, 1882 in Sainte-Anne-d'Auray by Bishop Jean-Marie Bécel von Vannes .

Barely in office, Mgr. Trégaro braced himself vehemently against the French school laws of March 1882, which limited the influence of the church on primary schools; because of a pastoral letter read from all pulpits of his diocese, he had to answer in 1886 on charges of abuse of office before the State Council. In 1883 he founded a pension fund for the priests of his diocese and in 1886 promulgated new diocesan statutes; In 1887 he introduced Eternal Prayer in the congregations . During his episcopate, two schools that still exist today were founded, the École St. François de Sale in Alençon and the École Trégaro in Gacé , as well as a monastery, the Carmel in Alençon. Bishop Trégaro had the cathedral restored along with several smaller churches; the money for it, 100,000 francs, had brought in a public fundraiser. In 1895 he crowned Pope Leos XIII in a large public celebration . the Virgin Mary statue of the Immaculate Conception in Sées.

Mgr. Trégaro died on January 6th, 1897 and was born on December 12th. M. is buried in his cathedral. He had chosen the place opposite the statue of N.-D.-de-Champs himself. His tomb made of white marble, which shows him kneeling in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary, was created by the sculptor Étienne Leroux (1836–1906). The funeral sermon was given by Bishop Abel-Anastase Germain von Coutances .

Works

• Choix de lettres, allocations et mandements. La Chapelle-Montligeon, 1894

literature

• J. Danigo: Art. Tregaro, François-Marie , in Mayeur, Jean-Marie; Hilaires, Yves-Marie (ed.): Dictionnaire du monde religieux dans la France contemporaine. Paris, 1985-1990, p. 399.
• L'Épiscopat français: Depuis le Concordat jusqu'à la Séparation (1802-1905). Paris: Librairie de Saints-Pères, 1907.