Hyacinthe-Louis De Quelen
Encyclopedia
Archbishop of Paris
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
.
Biography
Born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, he was educated at the College of Navarre. Ordained in 1807, he served a year as Vicar-General of Saint-Brieuc
Saint-Brieuc
Saint-Brieuc is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France.-History:Saint-Brieuc is named after a Welsh monk Brioc, who evangelized the region in the 6th century and established an oratory there...
and then became secretary to Cardinal Fesch
Joseph Fesch
Joseph Fesch was a French cardinal, closely associated with the family of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also one of the most famous art collectors of his period.-Biography:Fesch was born at Ajaccio in Corsica...
. When the latter was sent back to his diocese, de Quelen exercised the sacred ministry at St. Sulpice
Saint-Sulpice (Paris)
Saint-Sulpice is a Roman Catholic church in Paris, France, on the east side of the Place Saint-Sulpice, in the Luxembourg Quarter of the VIe arrondissement. At 113 metres long, 58 metres in width and 34 metres tall, it is only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and thus the second largest church in...
and in the military hospitals. Under the Restoration of 1814 he became successively spiritual director of the schools in the archdiocese, Vicar-General of Paris, and coadjutor archbishop to the Cardinal de Talleyrand-Périgord, succeeding the latter in 1821.
The favours of Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
and Charles X
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
did not make him subservient. As a peer of the realm
Peer of the Realm
Peer of the Realm is a term for a member of the highest social order in a kingdom, notably:...
he opposed, on behalf of the middle classes, the conversion of the national debt. At his reception into the French Academy
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
he publicly lauded Chateaubriand
François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.-Early life and exile:...
, then in disgrace. While blessing the cornerstone of the Chapelle Expiatoire
Chapelle Expiatoire
The Chapelle expiatoire is a chapel located in the eighth arrondissement, of Paris, France. This chapel is dedicated to King Louis XVI and his Queen Marie Antoinette, although they are formally buried in the Basilica of St Denis....
he demanded, though in vain, an amnesty for the exiled members of the Convention; and the ordinance of 1828, disbanding the Jesuits and limiting the recruiting of the clergy, was issued against his advice.
Although de Quelen had not approved the royal ordinance of July 1830, which aimed at restoring absolute monarchy, he was nevertheless held in suspicion by the House of Orléans. On one occasion Louis-Philippe
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
said to him: "Archbishop, remember that more than one mitre has been torn asunder". "Sire", replied the archbishop, "God protect the crown of the king, for many royal crowns too have been shattered".
Apart from some official functions such as the christening of the Comte de Paris, the obsequies of the Duke of Orléans and the Te Deum sung in honour of the French victory in Africa, he confined himself to his episcopal duties, visiting the parishes of his jurisdiction, looking after the religious instruction of military recruits, and organizing the metropolitan clergy. In the outbreaks which followed the Revolution of 1830
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
the archbishop was twice driven from his palace. However, when the epidemic of 1832 broke out, he transformed his seminaries into hospitals, personally ministered to the sick at the Hôtel-Dieu
Hôtel-Dieu de Paris
The Hôtel-Dieu de Paris is regarded as the oldest hospital in the city of Paris, France, and is the most central of the Assistance publique - hôpitaux de Paris hospitals. The hospital is linked to the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes...
, and founded at his own expense the "oeuvre des orphelins du choléra".
He died shortly after, having the joy of witnessing the conversion of the apostate Bishop of Autun, the Prince de Talleyrand. Ravignan
Gustave Delacroix de Ravignan
Gustave François Xavier Delacroix de Ravignan was a French Jesuit preacher and author. Educated in Paris, he resigned his army commission to study law. Auditor of the royal court...
eulogized him at Notre-Dame
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
, and Louis-Mathieu Molé at the French Academy. From de Quelen's episcopate date the "Société de St. Vincent de Paul", the "Conferences apologétiques de Notre-Dame" and several religious institutes, among which are the nursing Sisters of Bon-Secours.
Legacy
Besides the eulogies on Louis XVILouis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
(Paris, 1816), on Madame Elizabeth
Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène of France
|align=left|Élisabeth of France , known as Madame Élisabeth, was a French princess and the youngest sister of King Louis XVI...
(Paris, 1817), on the Duke de Berry
Duke of Berry
The title of Duke of Berry in the French nobility was frequently created for junior members of the French royal family. The Berry region now consists of the départements of Cher, Indre and parts of Vienne. The capital of Berry is Bourges. The first creation was for John, third son of John II, King...
(Paris, 1830), his "Discours de réception à l'académie française" (Paris, 1824), and some 120 pastoral letters, we have from his pen "Manuels pour l'administration des Sacrements de l'Eucharistie et de l'Extrême-Onction: du Baptême des Enfants: du Marriage" (3 vols., Paris, 1837-38) collected in the "Rituel de Paris".
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