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city he directly felt the pressure of events; for on the suppression of religious orders and corporations, he was constrained to retire into private See also:

LIFE

life. Thereafter he shared the fortunes of the Bonaparte family in the intrigues and strifes which ensued. See also:

DRAWN

Drawn gradually by that family into espousing the French cause against See also:

Paoli and the Anglophiles, he was forced to leave Corsica and to proceed with Laetitia and her son to See also:

TOULON

Toulon, in the See also:

early See also:

PART

part of the autumn of 1793. Failing to find clerical duties at that time (the period of the Terror), he entered civil life, and served in various capacities, until on the See also:

APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

appointment of See also:

NAPOLEON

Napoleon Bonaparte to the command of the French " See also:

Army of See also:

Italy " he became a See also:

COMMISSARY (from Med. Lat. commissaries, one to whom a charge or trust is committed)

commissary attached to that army. This part of his career is obscure and without importance. His fortunes See also:

rose rapidly on the attainment of the dignity of First See also:

Consul by his former See also:

charge, Napoleon, after the coup d'etat of See also:

BRUMAIRE

Brumaire (See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November 1799). Thereafter, when the restoration of the See also:

ROMAN

Roman See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic See also:

religion was in the mind of the First Consul, Fesch resumed his clerical vocation and took an active part in the complex negotiations which led to the See also:

SIGNING

signing of the See also:

CONCORDAT (Lat. concordatum, agreed upon, from con-, together, and cor, heart)

Concordat with the See also:

HOLY

Holy See on the 15th of July 18o1. His See also:

REWARD

reward came in the See also:

PRIZE, or PRIZE OF WAR (Fr. prise, from prendre, to take)

prize of the archbishopric of See also:

Lyons, on the duties of which he entered in See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August 1802.

Six months later he received a still more See also:

SIGNAL

signal reward for his past services, being raised to the dignity of cardinal. In 1804 on the retirement of Cacault from the position of French See also:

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

ambassador at See also:

Rome, Fesch received that important appointment. He was assisted by See also:

CHATEAUBRIAND, FRANCOIS RENE, VICOMTE DE (1768–1848)

Chateaubriand, but soon sharply differed with him on many questions. Towards the See also:

close of the year 5804 Napoleon entrusted to Fesch the difficult task of securing the presence of See also:

Pope See also:

PIUS

Pius VII. at the forth-coming See also:

CORONATION (Lat. corona, crown)

coronation of the See also:

EMPEROR (Fr. empereur, from the Lat. imperator)

emperor at Notre See also:

Dame, See also:

Paris (Dec. 2nd, 1804). His tact in overcoming the reluctance of the pope to be See also:

PRESENT

present at the coronation (it was only eight months after the See also:

EXECUTION (from Lat. ex-sequor, exsecutus, follow or carry out)

execution of the duc d'See also:

Enghien) received further recognition. He received the See also:

GRAND

grand See also:

CORDON (a French derivative of corde, cord)

cordon of the See also:

LEGION (Lat. legio)

Legion of See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

Honour, became grand-See also:

ALMONER (from Lat. eleemosynarius, through med. Lat. almosynarius, almonarius, and Fr. almosnier, aumosniea, &c., mod. Fr. aumonier)

almoner of the See also:

EMPIRE

empire and had a seat in the French See also:

SENATE (Lat. senatus, from root sen-, as in senex, old; the root is the Sanskrit sana, cf. Gr. 'vos; the same element appears in senor, seigneur, seneschal)

senate. He was to receive further honours. In 18o6 one of the most influential of the See also:

German clerics, Karl von See also:

DALBERG

Dalberg, then See also:

prince See also:

bishop of See also:

REGENSBURG (RATISBON)

Regensburg, See also:

CHOSE (Fr. for " thing ")

chose him to be his coadjutor and designated him as his successor. Events, however, now occurred which overclouded his prospects. In the course of the years 1806–1807 Napoleon came into See also:

sharp collision with the pope on various matters both See also:

POLITICAL

political and religious. Fesch sought in vain to reconcile the two potentates.

Napoleon was inexorable in his demands, and Pius VII. refused to give way where the discipline and vital interests of the See also:

church seemed to be threatened. The emperor on several occasions sharply rebuked Fesch for what he thought to be weakness and ingratitude. It is clear, however, that the cardinal went as far as possible in counselling the submission of the spiritual to the civil See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power. For a time he was not on speaking terms with the pope; and Napoleon re-called him from Rome. Affairs came to a crisis in the year 1809, when Napoleon issued at See also:

Vienna the See also:

DECREE (from the past participle, decretus, of Lat. decernere)

decree of the 17th of May, ordering the See also:

ANNEXATION (Lat. ad, to, and nexus, joining)

annexation of the papal states to the French empire. In that year Napoleon conferred on Fesch the archbishopric of Paris, but he refused the honour. He, however, consented to take part in an ecclesiastical See also:

COMMISSION (from Lat. commissio, committere)

commission formed by the emperor from among the dignitaries of the Gallican Church, but in 18ro the commission was dissolved. The hopes of Fesch with respect to Regensburg were also damped by an arrangement of the year 1810 whereby Regensburg was absorbed in See also:

BAVARIA (Ger. Bayern)

Bavaria. In the year 1811 the emperor convoked a See also:

NATIONAL

national See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council of Gallican clerics for the discussion of church affairs, and Fesch was appointed o preside over their deliberations. Here again, however, he failed to satisfy the inflexible emperor and was dismissed to his See also:

DIOCESE (formed on Fr. diocese, in place of the Eng. form diocess—current until the 19th century—from Lat. dioecesis, med. Lat. variant diocesis, from Gr. Swucio•tc, " house-keeping," " administration," &miceas, " to keep house," " to govern ")

diocese. The See also:

FRICTION (from Lat. fricare, to rub)

friction between uncle and See also:

NEPHEW

nephew became more acute in the following year. In See also:

JUNE

June 1812, Pius VII. was brought from his first See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place of detention, See also:

SAVONA

Savona, to See also:

FONTAINEBLEAU

Fontainebleau, where he was kept under surveillance in the See also:

hope that he would give way in certain matters See also:

RELATING

relating to the Concordat and in other clerical affairs.

Fesch ventured to write to the aged pontiff a See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter which came into the hands of the emperor. His anger against Fesch was such that he stopped the sum of 150,000 florins which had been accorded to him. The disasters of the years 1812—1813 brought Napoleon to treat Pius VII. with more lenity and the position of Fesch thus became for a time less difficult. On the first See also:

ABDICATION (Lat. abdicatio, disowning, renouncing, from ab, from, and dicare, to declare, to proclaim as not belonging to one)

abdication of Napoleon (See also:

APRIL

April r rth, 1814) and the restoration of the Bourbons, he, however, retired to Rome where he received a welcome. The events of the See also:

HUNDRED

Hundred Days (See also:

March-June, 1815) brought him back to See also:

France; he resumed his archiepiscopal duties at Lyons and was further named a member of the senate. On the second abdication of the emperor (June 22nd, 1815) Fesch retired to Rome, where he spent the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of his days in dignified ease, surrounded by numerous masterpieces of See also:

art, many of which he bequeathed to the city of Lyons. He died at Rome on the 13th of May 1839. See J. B. Monseigneur Lyonnet, Le Cardinal Fesch (2 vols., Lyons, 1841) ; See also:

RICARD, LOUIS GUSTAVE (1823-1873)

Ricard, Le Cardinal Fesch (Paris, 1893) ; H. Welschinger, Le Pape et l'empereur (Paris, 1905) ; F. See also:

Masson, Napoleon et sa famille (4 vols., Paris, 1897-1900).

End of Article: FESCH, JOSEPH (1763–1839)

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