Guillaume-René Meignan

Guillaume-René Cardinal Meignan (1896)

Guillaume-René Meignan (born April 12, 1817 in Chauvigné , France , † January 20, 1896 in Tours ) was a French apologist , exegete , archbishop of Tours and cardinal .

Life

Meignan comes from a family in which several members were persecuted during the French Revolution . He felt a calling to become a priest when he graduated from the Lycée de Angers and Château-Gontier . He then studied philosophy at the Le Mans seminar and was ordained a subdeacon in 1839 . he moved to the Collège de Tessé in the diocese of Le Mans , where he continued his studies and at the same time taught in school.

Abbé Bercy , an orientalist who became aware of him in Le Mans and later in Tessé, advised him to concentrate his studies on exegesis. Jean-Baptiste Bouvier ordained him as a priest on June 14, 1840 and sent him to Paris to continue his philosophy studies with Victor Cousin . Meignan made the acquaintance of Frédéric Ozanam , Charles de Montalembert and others, who urged him to complete his studies in Germany to meet the need for apologetics.

He then became a student of Joseph Görres , Ignaz von Döllinger and Karl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann in Munich ; he also deepened his exegetical studies in Tübingen and attended lectures in Berlin with August Neander , Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling .

In or soon after May 1843, Meignan returned to Paris where he was accepted into the clergy of the archdiocese . He became vicar at St-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas , but had to go to Rome in 1845 for health reasons . He recovered quickly and was able to acquire a theological doctorate from Sapienza in March 1846 . In Rome, too, he made the acquaintance of important men who were at his side with advice and action. For example Giovanni Perrone , Olympe-Philippe Gerbet . He also attended lectures by Carlo Passasslia , Francis Xavier Patrizi and Augustin Theiner . He then took various academic positions in the Archdiocese of Paris and in 1861 became Professor of Biblical Studies at the Sorbonne . Georges Darboy appointed him vicar general in 1863 . In 1864 he was appointed Bishop of Châlons , in 1882 he was transferred to Arras and in 1884 Archbishop of Tours.

At the First Vatican Council he was one of the opponents of the dogma of infallibility . Nevertheless, the successor Pius IX created. , Pope Leo XIII. Archbishop Meignan was made cardinal in the consistory of January 20, 1893, and in mid-June d. J. the titular church of Santa Trinità dei Monti . The cardinal died three years after his elevation to cardinal dignity in his episcopal city of Tours. He was buried in the crypt of the Saint-Martin de Tours basilica .

Works

He was one of the main opponents of Ernest Renan and endeavored to familiarize lay people with the contemporary theological controversies and to clarify the Christian point of view. His career as an apologist began in 1856 with the publication of the work Les prophéties messianiques. Le Pentateuque (Paris). In 1860 he published the M. Renan réfuté par les rationalistes allemands (Paris) and Les Evangiles et la critique au XIXe siècle (Paris); 1886 De l'irréligion systématique, ses influences actuelles (Paris); 1890 Salomon, son règne, ses écrits (Paris) and 1892 Les prophètes d'Israël et le Messie, depuis Daniel jusqu'à Jean-Baptiste (Paris).

Above all, his treatment of messianic prophecy goes beyond pure literal exegesis and also combines critical research into historical events and conditions. Because of his publications, he was exposed to severe attacks.

literature

• Henri Boissonot: Le cardinal Meignan. Lecoffre, Paris 1899.
• La Semaine religieuse du diocèse de Tulle , February 9, 1884, no. 5, pp. 90–91.
• Guillaume Meignan. In: Alphonse-Victor Angot, Ferdinand Gaugain: Dictionnaire historique, topographique et biographique de la Mayenne. Goupil, 1900-1910.

Web links

Wikisource: Guillaume Meignan  - Sources and full texts (French)

• Ewan Macpherson:  Guillaume-René Meignan . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 10, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1911.
• Meignan, Guillaume-René. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed May 1, 2018.
• Entry on Guillaume-René Cardinal Meignan on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Jean-Honoré Bara	Bishop of Châlons 1864–1882	Guillaume-Marie-Romain Sourrieu
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Lequette	Bishop of Arras 1882–1884	Desiré-Joseph Dennel
Charles Théodore Colet	Archbishop of Tours 1883-1893	René François Renou
Victor-Félix Bernadou	Cardinal 1893-1896	Jean-Pierre Boyer