Jauffret, Gaspard Jean André jOseph

Jauffret, Gaspard Jean André Joseph a French Roman Catholic theologian, was born at La Roque-Brussane, Provence, Dec. 13, 1759. He was educated at Toulon and Aix, then entered the Church,' and was made canon of Aulp. He subsequently went to Paris, where he continued his theological studies under the priests of St. Roch and St. Sulpice, and in 1791 established the periodical Annales de la Religion et du Sentiment, aimed against the civil constitution of the clergy. He afterwards became one of the editors of the Annales Religieuses. About 1801 he acted as vicar-general of cardinal Fesch, at Lyon; during the latter's embassy to Rome, and he here labored with the people to reconcile them to the Concordat. Cardinal Fesch subsequently called him to Paris, where Jauffret established a number of religious societies, and obtained many privileges for divers congregations of monks and nuns through the influence of his patron. Made chaplain of the emperor, he was in July, 1806, appointed bishop of Metz, and consecrated Dec. 3 of the same year, still retaining his imperial chaplaincy. This position he improved by establishing a number of seminaries and Roman Catholic schools of all kinds. In 1810 he was one of the persons sent to meet the archduchess Maria Louisa, and subsequently became her confessor. In 1811 he was rewarded for his zeal-in promoting the divorce of Napoleon from his first wife by the archbishopric of Aix; but he never really held this position, on account of the difficulties between the pope and the emperor, and finally felt constrained to renounce it. He died at Paris May 13, 1823. He wrote De la Religion a l'Assemble Nationale (1790-1, 8vo; often reprinted under divers titles): — Du Culte public (1795, 2 vols. 8vo; 3rd ed. 1815): — Memoire pour servir a l'Hist. de la Religion et de la Philosophie (Anon.

Paris, 1803, 2 vols. 8vo), besides a number of controversial and practical works. See Ami de la Religion et du Roi, 36, 65-74; Chronique Religieuse, 6:289-305; Querard, La France Litteraire. — Hoefer, Nouv., Biog. Géneralé, 26:410 sq. (J. N. P.)