Dominique de La Rochefoucauld
Cardinal
Honorific-prefixHis Eminence
Honorific-suffixCOHS
TitleCardinal, Archbishop of Rouen,
Primate of Normandy
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ArchdioceseRouen
SeeNotre-Dame de Rouen
Term start2 June 1759
Term end23 September 1800
PredecessorNicolas II de Saulx-Tavannes
SuccessorÉtienne Hubert de Cambacérès
Other postArchbishop of Albi
Vicar-General of Bourges
Birth date26 September 1712
Birth placeSaint-Ilpize, Auvergne, France
Death date23 September 1800 (aged 87)
Death placePrince-Bishopric of Münster, Holy Roman Empire
NationalityFrench
EducationSaint-Sulpice Seminary, Paris
Seminary of Clermont
Dominique de La Rochefoucauld
OfficeDeputy to the Estates General
for the First Estate
ConstituencyRouen

Dominique de La Rochefoucauld (Saint-Ilpize, Haute-Loire, 26 September 1712 – Münster, Germany, 23 September 1800) was a French bishop and cardinal.[1]

Life

Before the French Revolution

He was from an impoverished branch of the La Rochefoucauld family. He became archbishop of Albi in 1747, and archbishop of Rouen in 1759.

Under the Revolution

The clergy of Rouen sent him as their deputy to the États généraux of 1789. As President of the chamber of clergy, he refused its union with the Third Estate. He had to submit, given a direct order from Louis XVI. In protest he submitted a list of clerical rights.

He led a fierce opposition to the Constitution, and signed the protest of 12 September 1791. After 10 August 1792 he went into exile, in Germany from 1794.

He joined the Société des amis des noirs.

Notes

  1. ^ From 1778.

Bibliography