Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose

Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose (30 May 1800 – 28 October 1883)[1] was a French Catholic and senator.[2][3] He was the last surviving cardinal to have been born in the 18th century.

His Eminence Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose
Archbishop of Rouen
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese	Rouen
See	Rouen
Appointed	18 March 1858
Term ended	28 October 1883
Predecessor	Louis-Marie-Edmont Blanquart de Bailleul
Successor	Léon-Benoît-Charles Thomas
Other posts	Cardinal-Priest of San Clemente (1864-83)
Orders
Ordination	21 December 1833 by Jean-François-Marie Le Pappe de Trévern
Consecration	30 January 1848 by Antonio Francesco Orioli
Created cardinal	11 December 1863 by Pope Pius IX
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Birth name	Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose
Born	30 May 1800 Paris, French First Republic
Died	28 October 1883 (aged 83) Rouen, French Third Republic
Buried	Rouen Cathedral
Parents	Louis Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose Sara Maria Schas
Previous post	Bishop of Carcassonne (1848-55) Bishop of Évreux (1855-58)
Motto	Fide ac virtute
Coat of arms

Biography

Bonnechose was born in Paris. Entering the magistracy, he became attorney-general for the district of Besançon in 1830, but having received holy orders at Strasburg, under the episcopate of Jean François Marie Lepappe de Trevern, he was made professor of sacred eloquence in the school of higher studies founded at Besançon by Cardinal de Rohan.

After the death of de Rohan, he went to Rome to settle the differences between Bishop de Trevern and himself, due to philosophical opinions found in his work, "Philosophy of Christianity", for which Bonnechose had written an introduction. In 1844 he was named by Rome superior of the community of St. Louis. In 1847 he became Bishop of Carcassonne. He was transferred on 4 November 1854 to the see of Évreux and in 1854 raised to the archiepiscopal see of Rouen.

Created cardinal in 1863,[4] he became ex-officio senator of the empire. The cardinal showed himself a warm advocate of the temporal power of the popes, and firmly protested against the withdrawal of the French army from the Pontifical States.

In 1870, he went to Versailles, the headquarters of the German armies, to entreat Wilhelm I of Prussia to reduce the war contribution imposed on the city of Rouen. Under the republican government he uniformly opposed the laws and measures passed against religious congregations and their schools, but endeavored to inspire his clergy to deference and conciliation in their relations with the civil authorities.

His best known work is "Introduction a la philosophie du Christianisme" (1835), two octavo volumes.

See also

• List of works by Henri Chapu

References

• Guerin, Dict. des dict. (Paris, 1892)
• Larousse, Dict. Univ. du XlX siecle (Paris 1867)

Notes

1. Biographical Dictionary: Consistory of December 11, 1863 (XIV)
2.  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
3. "Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand Cardinal de Bonnechose". Catholic Hierarchy.
4. Cardinals Created by Pius IX (1861-8)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Missing or empty |title= (help)