Jean-Sifrein Maury (; 26 June 1746 – 10 May 1817) was a French cardinal, archbishop of Paris, and former bishop of Montefiascone.
Biography The son of a cobbler, he was born at ValréasT. B. Scannell, "Cardinal Maury," Thomas B. Scannell, "Jean Siffrein Maury", in the Comtat-Venaissin, the enclave within France that belonged to the pope. He had three brothers.
His first steps in education took place at the school in Valréas, where he completed the course in humanities at the age of thirteen.Louis Sifrein Maury, p. 1. He spent a year at the minor seminary (high school) of Sainte-Garde, and then transferred to the major seminary of St. Charles, which was run by the Sulpician fathers.Poujoulat, p. 4. His acuteness was observed by the priests of the seminary at Avignon, where he was educated. He received the subdiaconate at Meaux.
In 1765 he took up residence in Paris.Poujoulat, p. 7. He was ordained a priest at Sens by Cardinal Paul d'Albert de Luynes in 1767, having been granted a dispensation because he was below the canonical minimum age.Poujoulat, p. 18.
Early efforts in eloquence He tried his fortune by writing éloges of famous persons, then a favorite practice, beginning with King Stanislaus of Poland in 1766 and Charles V in 1767.Poujoulat, pp. 10-11. On 25 August 1771, the Académie française awarded his Éloge on Fénelon the second prize, second only to that by La Harpe.Poujoulat, p. 19. Fénelon's grand-nephew, Leo François Ferdinand Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon, who was bishop of Lombez (1771–1788), was so impressed by Maury's laudation of his relative that he granted him a canonry in his cathedral and named him a Vicar General.Scannell, p. 995.
The real foundation of his fortunes was the success of a panegyric on Saint Louis, delivered in the chapel of the Louvre on 25 August 1772, before the Académie française, who caused him to be recommended to Cardinal Charles Antoine de La Roche-Aymon, the prelate responsible for the dispensation of royal benefices as Grand Almoner of France. Maury was granted the Abbey of La Frénade in the diocese of Saintes in commendam. The Cardinal also appointed him to preach before the King on Holy Thursday 1773, during Advent 1773, and at Versailles during Lent 1775.Poujoulat, pp. 35-37.
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,"Essay on the eloquence of the pulpit". a volume which contains much good criticism, and remained a French classic through the nineteenth century, as long as elegant rhetoric was valued in the pulpit. 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 said only a few words on religion, he would have discussed every possible subject.""C'est dommage! dit le roi; si l'abbé Maury nous avait parlé un peu de religion, il nous aurait parlé de tout." Poujoulat, p. 37.
In 1786, he obtained the rich priory of Saint Pierre, to which belonged the Seigneurie de Lihons-en-Santerre (Lyons), near Péronne;Fisquet, p. 560.
Politician in the revolution
In 1785 Abbé Maury was elected to the Académie française, successor to the chair formerly occupied by Lefranc de Pompignan. 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, having been placed on a list of proscriptions by the Orléanist faction,Fisquet, p. 561. but after that time, deserted by nearly all his friends, he decided to remain in France.
In the National Constituent Assembly he took an active part in every important debate, combating with especial vigour the alienation of the property of the clergy. He often got the better of his principal antagonist, Mirabeau, but he did not win a single vote.Scannell, p. 998-999.Maury's eloquence could not exactly be described as studied; yet it was the outcome of a well-stored mind, long trained in oratory; and hence, his speeches read far better than his rival's, whose rugged genius poured forth its torrents regardless of the rules of rhetoric. Mirabeau triumphed, because he was the man of the hour, giving voice to the unavenged wrongs and pent-up passions of millions. Maury fell back, step by step, with his face to the foe, making the conquerors pay dearly for their victory. On 2 November 1789, Catholic Church property that was held for purposes of church revenue was nationalized. On 13 February 1790, monastic vows were forbidden and all ecclesiastical orders and congregations were dissolved. On 12 July 1790 the Civil Constitution of the Clergy became law, provoking a schism between France and the Catholic Church, and the breaking off of diplomatic relations between Rome and Paris.Poujoulat, pp. 69-83. Scannell, pp. 1000-1004. His life was often in danger, and he received a letter from Louis XVI on 3 February 1791, recommending greater circumspection and prudence.Fisquet, p. 563. Poujolat, pp. 197-198. But his ready wit always saved him, and it was said that one bon mot would preserve him for a month. He finally decided, however, that it was too dangerous for him to remain in France, and in October 1791 he fled to Bruxelles, then Coblenz, and finally Rome.Louis Sifrein Maury, pp. 62-63. Fisquet, p. 563.
When he did emigrate, he found himself regarded as a martyr to the church and the king. On 17 April 1792 Pope Pius VI appointed Maury to be his Nuncio in Frankfort, where the imperial diet intended to elect Francis II of Austria as Holy Roman Emperor.Louis Sifrein Maury, p. 66. He appointed him Archbishop of Nicaea in partibus (Turkey) on 24 April 1792. He was consecrated in Rome in the Vatican Basilica at the altar of the Chair of Saint Peter on 1 May 1792 by Cardinal Francesco Saverio de Zelada. Louis Siffrein Maury, p. 67.
Cardinal On 21 February 1794, Maury was named a cardinal by Pope Pius VI, and on 12 September was assigned the titular church of Santissima Trinità dei Monti in Rome.Ritzler and Sefrin, pp. 38 no. 67; 49 column 2. Scannell, p. 1066, states that Maury had been created a cardinal in petto before his flight from Paris in October 1791. It is true that Pope Pius had named a cardinal in pectore on 26 September 1791, following the death of Cardinal Loménie de Brienne (Ritzler-Sefrin, p. 37, note 56), but the Acta Cameralia state that on 21 February 1794, the Pope "creavit et publicavit 8 S.R.E. card.les, nempe pbr.es Antonium Dugnani archiep. Rhodien., Hippolytum Vincenti archiep. Corinthien., Ioannem Sifredum Maury archiep. ep. Montis Falisci et Cornetan.,..." (Ritzler-Sefrin, p. 37, note 56). The words "created and published" seem to exclude the mere public announcement. On the day he was named cardinal, he was also made bishop of Montefiascone in Italy.Ritzler and Sefrin, p. 295. There he settled down, conducted a thorough diocesan visitation, and wrote a detailed report of the status of the diocese for the Sacred Congregation of the Council in Rome (15 November 1796). He held a diocesan synod for the clergy, and made judicious use of the exiled French clergy, improving the teaching at the diocesan seminary by appointing two doctors of the Sorbonne. In 1798, however, the French drove him from his diocese and from the Papal States, and all of his property and benefices were confiscated by order of General Berthier on 12 February 1798. Pope Pius VI, already a captive, through one of his chamberlains ordered Maury to flee.Ricard, Correspondence diplomatique et mémoires inédits, I, p. 184. He attempted to seek refuge in Florence, but the Duke was under French pressure to expel him. He did, however, provide Maury with a disguise and a place on a mission he was sending to Venice, where Maury finally settled, under the protection of the Austrians who had taken Venice from Napoleon – who had destroyed the Serene Republic.Some narratives place him in St. Petersburg, a guest of the Czar Paul, but it has been shown that this is a hasty reading of various letters. He was offered help by Count Mocenigo, the Russian envoy in Florence, but he declined. Louis Sifrein Maury, pp. 80-81. Poujoulat, p. 208. Maury wrote to Mocenigo on 2 July 1798: "Si je ne consultais que mon coeur et mes intérêts, je partirais assurément pour la Russie; mais j'appartiens à un corps, dont il ne serait ni noble ni sage de me séparer dans ces circonstances. Une juste délicatesse ne me permet guère de quitter l'Italie avant d'avoir acquitté la dette que peut m'imposer mon état d'un moment à l'autre." He arrived in Venice on 17 April 1798.Ricard, Correspondence diplomatique et mémoires inédits, I, p. 185, note 1.
Conclave in Venice Pope Pius VI died in the prison fortress of Valence on 29 August 1799. Before being deported to France he had signed and sealed several bulls which allowed the Cardinals to hold a conclave elsewhere than in Rome, if Rome were occupied by enemies, and dispensing them from the observance of the usual rules and regulations governing a conclave, as had been embodied in various papal bulls since the thirteenth century. There were no cardinals left in Rome or the Papal States, and those who had fled to Naples were driven out when a popular uprising created the Parthenopean Republic. The only friendly territory appeared to be Austrian, and the cardinals gradually headed for Venice. Maury, who was in Venice, had already been commissioned by Louis XVIII to work for the assembling of a conclave.Poujoulat, p. 208. In a letter to Louis on 12 October, Maury noted that there were twenty-three cardinals assembled in Venice.Ricard, Correspondence diplomatique et mémoires inédits du Cardinal Maury Vol. I, pp. 227-228. On 2 November 1799, there were thirty-three cardinals in Venice,Ricard, p. 248. and ultimately thirty-five took part, once the Austrian Herzan and the Spaniard Lorenzana arrived. The opening ceremonies took place on 30 November 1799.