Bonald, Louis Jacques Maurice De

Bonald, Louis Jacques Maurice de a distinguished French prelate, was born at Milhau (Aveyron), Oct. 30, 1787, being the son of the viscount of Bonald. Having completed his classical studies, he entered the Seminary of Saint Sulpice, where he was noted for his ardent piety; Mgr. de Pressigny, archbishop of Besancon, made him his secretary when he went to Rome to conclude the concordat, according to the direction of Louis XVIII. In 1817 he became grandvicar and archdeacon. He distinguished himself by his preaching in the Cathedral of Chartres during the Lenten season of 1822. For sixteen years he was bishop of Puy, and passed from this office to that of archbishop of Lyons, and in 1841 was made cardinal. He published an article in 1844 against the Manuel de Droit Ecclesiastique of M. Dupin, condemning it as containing doctrines destructive of the liberties of the Church. This created a great deal of discussion. M.A Emanuel Arago, commissioner extraordinary in the department of the Rhone, succeeded in driving a great number of monks from their retreats, and this under a form of government established with Liberty as its motto. In a controversy occasioned by the publication of a book by the abbot Gaume, upon the necessity of reforming the classical studies, the archbishop of Lyons showed himself favorable to the proposed innovations of this ecclesiastic. Bonald died Feb. 25, 1870. He wrote a rejoinder to Renan's Vie de Jesus. See Hoefer Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.