Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/76

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LAViaiBIS


51


LAVianuE


his pieethood to higher studies at the newly founded laboura mnged far beyond the vast teiritoriee placed

Ecdle dee Carmee, takmg at the Sorbonne the doetoi^ under hia jurisdiction. Klein (Le Caidinal Lavigerie,

ateaoflett«re (1850), and of theology (1^53), to which p. 2B8) deecribes minutely the many ways in which he

be added lat«r the Roman doctorates of civil and Krved the best interests of France in, and out of; Af-

conon law. Appointed chaplain ot Sainte-Genevi^e riea. He will, however, be beat remembered by the

in 1853, aasociatc ptofeesor of church history at the leading rflle he played in furthering the policy of Leo

Sorbonne in 1SS4, and titular of the chair in lf!57, XIII with regard to French Catholica, and in pro-

lavigerie did not confine his actii-ity to his chap- moling the anti-slavery movement. laJncy or chair, but took a leading part in the orpini- Tinctured with tJaliicanism through hia early asBO-

zation of the students' eerclea catholiquee, and of ciation with the Sorbonne, Lavigerie modified hia

I'tEuvre desfeoles d'Orient, Ah direct or of the latter viewaduringhisstay at Rome, and his attitude at the

be collected large nums for the benefit of the Oriental Vatican Council is fully expressed by the promise he

Christiana persecuted by the Druses, and even went to made his clergy " to be with Peter ", When Leo XIII,

Syria to BuperintendpereonflUy the distribution of the by hia Encychcala "Nobihasima Gallorum gens" of 8

funda (ISflO). His bnlliant Befvices were rewarded by Feb., 1884, and "Sapientia! ffitflmip" nf 3 Feb.. 1890.

rapid promotion, first in 1861 to the Roman Rota, and directed the French Catholics


be generously pxit aside other poUtical aJfihationa and again ■■waH with Peter". A groat sensation was created when at Algiers, on 12 Nov., 1890, he proclaimed before a vast Bsaemblagc of French ofGciala the obligation for French Cath- olics of sincerely adhering to the republican form of gov- ernment. The famous " toast d'AJger" waa the object ot harsh criticism and even vitu- peration from the monarchist element. With hia usual vehemence Cardinal Lavigerie anawered by his " Lettre k ua catht^tque", in which he not only impugned theprctenders — the Comtc de Chambord, the Comte Ue Paris, and' Prince Niipoli5on— but even hinted that monarchy was an outgrown institution. In this he may have gone too tar, but in the main point it was proved later by Cardinal Ram- polla's letter of 28 NovenJDer, IS90. and Pope Leo's Encycli- cal "Inter innumeraa" ot 16 Feb., IK92, that Lavigerie had been the aclf-sacriticing apokesman of the pope.

The auppression of slaveiy had been the subject of Lavi- ^ric's first pastoral letter at .Algiers. When Leo XIII in his Encyclical tc the bishops of Brazil (5 May, 1-S88) appealed tn the world in bchalt of the slaves, the Primate of Carthage was tile first to respond. In _. in which was to bring his heroic missionarieaintri the spite of age and infirmities he visited the capitala of very heart of the Dark Continent, and reault in the Europe, teihng of the horrors of -African slavery and erection of five vicariates Apostolic in Equatorial Af- urging the formation of anti-Hlavery societie.s. The rica. Tn thoae many burdens— made heavier by the international "Conference" of Brussels, 1890. prac- eonae^uencee (felt even in Algeria) of the Franco- tically adopted I^avigerie's suggestions as to the lioat Prussian war, the withdrawal of government finan- means of achieving the desired abolition, and the lupport, and the threatened extension to the "CongrSsde Paris", called the aame year by the car-

' ' ' dinal himself, ahowed great enthusiasm and verified

Lavigerie's saying: " pour a:iuvcr I'Afrique int^rieure, il faut sou lever la colore du monde."

After the "toast d'.\lger" and the "Congres de '"■'■ health, relired to .Al-

„ - — - ^ — __ ,. saddened by theoftcu

iate. Cardinal in 1881, he became the first primiite ot unjust criticism of hia cherished jMuject^the " fteres the ne«dv restored See of Carthage in 1«84, retaining plonnicrs du Sahara" — the death of many of his inis- meanwhite the See of Algiers. " I shall not upvk one sionaries, and, alwve all, the passing ot Ugaiidu under ifay's re-st" waa the rrmark of Lavigrrie wlicn he the control of the sectarian Imperial Ea.-it-.\frican landed on African soil. He carrie<l onl lluit piomisc ('ompany. He die<l at .Algiers as prepamtiims were . to the letter. While Notre-Dame tl'.Afrique at Al- being made tor the twenty-fifth anniversary of hia gfm. the BaBilica of St. Ixiuta at (^irthage, and the -African episcopate. The daily prea.t throughout the Cathedralof St. Vincent de Paulnl I'lini.s will stand as world eulogiiud liim. who had forbidden all eulogies woounwuts of his prodigiuua activity in Africa, his at hia tuneral, and the "Moniteur du Rome" ti.«i.'<-^'$


a yearn later to the See of Nancy. From the lieginning ot hia episcopate he displa^i'ed that genius of organiialion which is the characteristic of his life. The foundation of collegtt at Vic, Blamont, and Lun^ville; the establishment at Nancy of a higher institute (or clenca and of a Maison d'^tudiants for law students; the organiiation of the episco- pal curia: the pubUcaUon of the " Recu^ des Ordomiaiices ^piacopales, atatuta et rigle- menta du diocdse de Nancy", were but the first fruita ^ a

Eromi^ng episcopate, when e was transferred to Algiers on37UAidi, 1867.

.\a Aichbiihop of Algiers he promptly revened the pcriiey of neutrality towards the Hoe- Icms imposed upon his pred- ecessors by the French au- ttiorities, and inaugurated a strong movement of assimila- tion and. converaion. With the help of the White Fathers and 01 the White Sistem, whom he founded for the pur- pose, he established and maintained at great coxt orphan asylums, iniluatria! srfiofds, boBpitals, and agricul- tural settlements, wherein the .Arabs could l)e brought underthe influence of the {iofliM'l. Appointed as early as 1868 Apostolic Delegale of H'pstern Sahara and the Sudan, he began in 1S74 the work nl southward expan-


African colonies of anti-religious legi.station passed France— lavigerie added other eares: the administra- tion of the Diocese of Constantina, 1S71; the founda- tion at St. Anne of Jerusalem of a clerical seminary tor the Oriental missions, 1378, and, after tljooccupa>- Paris", Ijavigerie, broken tionof Tunis bj^ France, the government of that vicar- giera.