Charles Théodore Colet (30 April 1806 – 27 November 1883) was a French Roman Catholic Archbishop.
Life Colet was born in Gérardmer in France and was ordained a priest in 1831. In 1838 he became private secretary to François-Victor Rivet, Bishop of Dijon, and later served as Rivet's vicar general,O'Gara, Margaret. Triumph in Defeat: Infallibility, Vatican I, and the French Minority Bishops, Catholic University of America Press, 1988, p.8 a position he held for twenty-three years. On August 26, 1860 he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour."Colet, Charles Théodore", Archives nationales, Ministère de la Culture
In June 1861, Napoleon III nominated Colet to succeed François-Augustin Delamare as bishop of Luçon. Pope Pius IX approved the appointment the following month, and on August 25 Colet was consecrated bishop at the Cathedral of Saint Benignus in Dijon with his friend and mentor, Bishop Rivet, serving as principal consecrator. In 1869, Colet authorized a diocesan catechism.Catéchisme du diocèse de Luçon, chez F. Bideaux, 1869 He attended the First Vatican Council, and voted with the minority against the doctrine of papal infallibility.Simon, Georges. L'épiscopat français, Société bibliographique (France) (1907), pp. 308–309. On March 4, 1874, he was made an officer of the Legion of Honour.
In November 1874, Colet was nominated to succeed Felix Pierre Fruchaud as Archbishop of Tours. In December, Pius IX approved the appointment, and Colet was installed at the Cathedral of Saint Gatianus in Tours on February 3, 1875. He supported Leo Dupont in his efforts to promote the local devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. Dupont was well known among the Catholics of Tours for his piety and generosity. After Dupont's death in March 1876, the Archdiocese purchased his house on the Rue St. Etienne and established the Oratory of the Holy Face. The chapel was staffed by a community of priests canonically established by Archbishop Colet and called the "Priests of the Holy Face".(The Oratory still stands, now administered by the French Dominicans as the earlier group is now defunct.)
As he had done at Luçon, in 1879 he issued a diocesan catechism for Tours.Catéchisme du diocèse de Tours, Mame, 1879
Archbishop Colet died in Tours on 27 November 1883. His funeral was held at the cathedral with Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert, Cardinal Archbishop of Paris presiding.La Semaine religieuse du diocèse de Tulle, 8 décembre 1883, no 49, p. 669-670 Colet's tomb in the cathedral.
References
Sources
Dorothy Scallan. The Holy Man of Tours. (1990) Georges Simon, in:
External links David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy.org, Archbishop Charles-Théodore Colet †; retrieved: 2017-10-18.