Encyclopedia:
Jean-Sifrein Maury
Jean-Sifrein Maury (
June 26,
1746 –
May 10,
1817), was a
French cardinal and
Archbishop of Paris.
Biography
The son of a poor cobbler, he was born on at
Valras in the
Comtat-Venaissin, the district in France which belonged to the
pope. His acuteness was observed by the priests of the seminary at
Avignon, where he was educated and took orders. He tried his fortune by writing
éloges of famous persons, then a favorite practice; in 1771, his
Éloge on
Fénelon was pronounced by the
French Academy as second only to that by
La Harpe.
The real foundation of his fortunes was the success of a
panegyric on
Saint Louis delivered before the
Académie Française in 1772, which caused him to be recommended for an abbacy. In 1777 he published under the title of
Discours choisis his panegyrics on Saint Louis,
Saint Augustine and Fénelon, his remarks on
Bossuet and his
Essai sur l'éloquence de la chaire, a volume which contains much good
criticism, and remains a French classic. The book was often reprinted as
Principes de l'éloquence. He became a favorite preacher in Paris, and was Lent preacher at court in 1781, when
King Louis XVI said of his sermon: "If the abbé had only said a few words on religion he would have discussed every possible subject."
In 1781, he obtained the rich priory of Lyons, near Pronne; and in 1785 he was elected to the Academy as
Lefranc de Pompignan's successor. His morals were as loose as those of his great rival
Mirabeau, but he was famed in Paris for his wit and gaiety. He was elected a member of the
Estates-General of 1789 by the clergy of the
bailliage of
Péronne, proving from the first to be the most able and persevering defender of the
ancien régime. (He had, nonetheless, drawn up the greater part of the
cahier of the clergy of Péronne which contained a considerable programme of reform.) It is said that he attempted to emigrate both in July and in October 1789, but after that time, deserted by nearly all his friends, he decided to remain in France.
In the
Constituent Assembly he took an active part in every important debate, combating with especial vigour the alienation of the property of the clergy. His life was often in danger, but his ready wit always saved it and it was said that one
bon mot would preserve him for a month. When he did emigrate in 1792, he found himself regarded as a
martyr to the church and the king, and was at once named archbishop
in partibus;
extra nuncio to the diet at Frankfort; and, in 1794, cardinal. He was finally made bishop of
Montefiascone in Italy, where he settled down briefly, but in 1798 the French drove him from his retreat, and he sought refuge in
Venice and
St. Petersburg.
Next year he returned to
Rome as ambassador of the exiled
Louis XVIII at the papal court. In 1804, he began to prepare his return to France by a well-turned letter to
Napoleon, congratulating him on restoring religion to France once more. In 1806 he did return and in 1807 was again received into the Academy; and in 1810, on the refusal of
Cardinal Fesch, was made Archbishop of Paris. He was presently ordered by the pope to surrender his functions as archbishop, but refused. On the
Bourbon restoration toward the end of 1814, he was summarily expelled from the Academy and his archiepiscopal palace.
Maury retired to Rome, where he was imprisoned in the castle of St. Angelo for six months for his disobedience to the papal orders. He died in 1817, a year or two after his release, primarily from disease contracted in prison. As a critic, he was and is considered a very able writer.
Sainte-Beuve gives him the credit of discovering Father Jacques Bridayne and of giving Bossuet his rightful place as a preacher above Massillon; as a politician, his wit and eloquence made him a worthy rival of Mirabeau. He sacrificed much to personal ambition, yet remained publicly unremembered by Louis XVIII as a courageous supporter of Louis XVI and by the papacy as the one intrepid defender of the Church during the States-General.
References
The 1911
Britannica gives the following references in turn:
*
Œuvres choisies du Cardinal Maury (five volumes, 1827).
*
Correspondance diplomatique (two volumes, Lille: Ricard, 1891).
* Louis-Siffrein Maury (Maury's nephew),
Vie du Cardinal Maury (1828).
* Jean Poujoulat,
Cardinal Maury, sa vie et ses œuvres (1855).
* Sainte-Beuve,
Causeries du lundi (vol. iv.)
* Ricard,
L'Abbé Maury (1746-1791),
L'Abbé Maury avant 1789,
L'Abbé Maury et Mirabeau (1887).
* G. Bonet-Maury,
Le Cardinal Maury d'après ses mémoires et sa correspondance inédits (Paris, 1892).
*
Aulard,
Les Orateurs de La constituante (Paris, 1882).
*
Libels written against Maury during the Revolution, claimed by
Jacques René Hébert but sometimes attributed to
Rétif de la Bretonne:
::
Petit carême de l'abbé Maury, with a supplement called the
Seconde année (1790).
::
Vie privée de l'abbé Maury (1790)
*
Quérard,
La France littéraire, vol. v. (1833).
start
succession box | title=
Seat 8Académie française1784-
1803 | before=
Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de Pompignan | after=
Michel-Louis-Étienne Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély |
succession box | title=
Seat 15Académie française1806-
1816 | before=
Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target | after=
François-Xavier-Marc-Antoine de Montesquiou-Fézensac |
end
start
succession box | title=
Archbishop of Paris1810–1817 | before=Jean Baptiste de Belloy-Morangle | after=Alexandre-Angélique Talleyrand de Périgord |
end
Maury, Jean-SifreinMaury, Jean-SifreinMaury, Jean-SifreinMaury, Jean-SifreinMaury, Jean-SifreinMaury, Jean-SifreinMaury, Jean-Sifreinfr:Jean-Sifrein Mauryit:Jean-Siffrein Mauryno:Jean-Siffrein Maury