François de Fitz-James

François de Fitz-James (born June 9, 1709 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye , † July 19, 1764 in Paris ) was Louis XV's first court chaplain . of France (1742–1748) and Bishop of Soissons (1739–1764).

Life

François de Fitz-James was the second son of Marshal Jacques Fitzjames de Berwick from the (second) marriage to Anne Bulkeley. After the death of his older brother Jacques (October 13, 1721), he inherited his title of duke ( Fitz-James ) and the Limousin governorate , but in 1727 he turned to the church career and, with the exception of the title of duke, which he held as head of the House of Fitz- James continued, downing all worldly dignities. In 1736 he also lost his peer status .

King Louis XV gave him in May 1728 royal abbey of Saint Victor in Paris in Coming , which he took on 3 August 1728 and owned it, consecrated in the chapel at March 21, 1733 a priest, celebrated his first Mass on 25 March 1733rd Shortly thereafter, he was appointed court chaplain (Aumônier) to the king and received his doctorate in theology on March 23, 1734 from the Paris Faculty of Theology ( Sorbonne ). In 1735 he became Vicar General of the Archbishop of Rouen, Nicolas de Saulx-Tavannes , and received the Abbey of Saint-Georges-de-Boscherville (in Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville in Normandy) in September 1738 . Appointed Bishop of Soissons by the King on December 31, 1738, he was preconized in the papal consistory on February 23, 1739 and was ordained on May 31 in the Cathedral of Rouen by Mgr de Saulx de Tavannes. On June 5, he took the oath of allegiance to the king and, after the resignation of Cardinal d'Auvergne on March 3, 1742, received his office as First Court Chaplain (Premier Aumônier).

In this capacity, Fitz-James was part of the king's entourage, even when he suddenly fell seriously ill in Metz in 1744 and feared for his life. Bishop Fitz-James, however, refused the king's final unction while his mistress Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle , Duchess of Châteauroux, was still in the city. Afraid of being lynched, the Mailly and her sister Diane-Adélaïde secretly left the city and traveled to Paris, accompanied by insults and curses. Bishop Fitz-James urged the seriously ill king to apologize publicly for his unworthy conduct. Soon after this forced admission of guilt, Louis XV recovered. again and returned to Paris in November 1744. The enraged Mailly asked the king to banish Bishop Fitz-James from the court, but this did not happen because of her death on December 8, 1744. The strict Fitz-James also got into conflict with the next mistress, Madame de Pompadour , but this time he lost out. On March 6, 1748, he lost his position as first court chaplain and had to go to his diocese.

In Soissons, Bishop Fitz-James had all the episcopal buildings, v. a. the cathedral, to shine and rearranged the administrative structures, u. a. by establishing new deaneries. In the French church dispute of the 18th century ( Gallicanism / Jansenism ) he was regarded as the leading representative of the Jansenists, but this cannot be proven from his writings. In a letter to the Old Catholic Bishop Meindaerts of Utrecht on May 31, 1739, he advised him to recognize the papal bull Unigenitus of 1713, which condemned Jansenism. His pastoral letters and rituals attracted a great deal of attention when it was published. A pastoral letter from 1762 in which he called for the abolition of the Society of Jesus ( Jesuits ). was officially established by Pope Clement XIII. Condemned (April 13, 1763) and rejected by many French bishops.

Bishop Fitz-James died in Paris on July 19, 1764. His collected works were published posthumously in two volumes.

Works

• Rituel du diocèse de Soissons (4 volumes, 1753)
• Instructions pour les dimanches et fêtes de l'année qui font la 3e partie du Rituel de Soissons, imprimées par ordre de Mgr François, duc de Fitz-James, évêque de Soissons. Soissons: P. Courtois, 1755.
• Catéchisme ou exposition de la doctrine chrétienne (1756)
• Œuvres posthumes (2 volumes 1769, a supplementary volume 1770)

literature

• Hoefer: Nouvelle biography générale. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1852–1866.
• Fisquet H [onoré Jean Pierre]: La France pontificale (Gallia Christiana): histoire chronologique et biographique des Archevêques & Évêques de tous les Diocèses de France, depuis l'établissement du Christianisme jusqu'à nos jours, divisée en 18 provinces ecclésiastiques. Paris: Repos, 1864–1871.
• Jean, Armand: Les Évêques et les archevêques de France depuis 1682 jusqu'à 1801. Paris [et al.]: Picard [et al.], 1891