La Marche, Jean Francois

La Marche, Jean Francois a French prelate, was born in the diocese of Quimper in 1729, of a noble family from Brittany. After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle le left the army to embrace the ecclesiastical calling. He was first canon and grand-vicar of Treguier, then abbot of St. Aubin des Bois, and in 1772 was elected bishop of St. Pol de Leon. At the commencement of the Revolution La Marche refused to obey the civil constitution, and, January 8, 1791, fled to London, where he was befriended by Burke and other Englishmen, who charged him with the distribution of means of relief to the French emigrants. This position he held until his death, November 25, 1806. He wrote, Mandements, also a Lettre Pastorale and an Ordonnance, the last in London, August 20, 1791, to warn his diocesans against schism. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.