NOAILLES, LOUIS ANTOINE DE

Cardinal archbishop of Paris; b. château of Tessières, near Aurillac, May 27, 1651; d. Paris, May 4, 1729. As the second son of Anne Jules, first duke of Noailles, he was educated in Paris and received a doctorate in theology at the Sorbonne (1676). Ordained a priest in 1675, he was made bishop of Cahors in 1679, and in June 1680, bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, a see that conferred a peer-age. In 1682 Noailles took part in the Assembly of the Clergy that adopted the four Gallican articles (see galli-canism) Respect for his piety and unblemished life led to his appointment as archbishop of Paris in April 1695, an appointment supported by Mme. de Maintenon. His difficulties then began. At Châlons in 1695 he had approved Pasquier quesnel's Réflexions morales, but in 1696 he condemned a posthumous publication of the Jansenist Martin de Barcos's Exposition de la foi … touchant la grâce et la prédestination that exposed an extreme form of Augustinism. He was then attacked by an anonymous pamphlet that demanded whether one should follow Noailles the bishop of Châlons in approval of Quesnel, or Noailles the archbishop of Paris in condemning the same teachings in Barcos's book. Despite this difficulty, Noailles promoted a new edition of Réflexions morales (1699). He was made cardinal in 1700 at Louis XIV's solicitation. During these same years he condemned several Quietist writings (see quietism). In so doing, he supported bossuet and became estranged from fÉnelon.

On July 16, 1705, Clement XI published the constitution Vineam Domini Sabaoth. This condemned the Cas de conscience, printed in 1703 and signed by 40 doctors of the Sorbonne, arguing that respectful silence concerning the five propositions of Jansenius should not debar an ecclesiastic from absolution. The cardinal had forced them to retract, the two who would not being exiled. He then acted, perhaps reluctantly, in support of Vineam Domini, though under his guidance the assembly of bishops who received it added a strong Gallican pronouncement as an introduction to the pontifical document. Moreover, he showed himself slow and weak on the issue of the suppression of port-royal effected by Louis XIV in 1709. On the other hand, he turned more and more against the Jesuits, strictly controlling their faculties to preach or hear confessions in his diocese. In the same year, when the bull unigenitus, condemning 101 of Quesnel's propositions, was referred to the Assembly of the Clergy, Noailles, who felt directly attacked, opposed it. These actions brought the cardinal openly into disfavor, and Louis XIV forbade his appearance at court. In 1714, with Noailles still opposing, the Unigenitus was registered by royal order. The king then decided to have him tried by a national council; there were also talks of his "Decardinalization." However, Louis died in 1715, and in a dramatic reversal of fate Noailles became chair of the "Ecclesiastical council" established by the Regent, the duke of Orléans. Though he was never the leader of the opposition, he continued to resist Unigenitus. On April 3, 1717, he joined other bishops in an appeal against the bull to a future general council, although this appeal remained secret until 1718. In August 1718 the Regent ordered acceptance of Unigenitus throughout France, all appeals already made being annulled. Cardinal de Noailles only formally withdrew his appeal in August 1720; he did not formally accept Unigenitus until October 1728. The cardinal was a good administrator of his diocese, spending generously in repairing and adorning the cathedral of Notre Dame. He was also noted for his charity. He died in 1729, leaving his property to the Hôpital Général, the Hôtel-Dieu, and the Hôpital des Enfants-Trouvés.

Bibliography: É. de barthÉlemy, Le Cardinal de Noailles… (Paris 1886). j. carreyre, Le Jansénisme durant la Régence 2 v. (Louvain 1929–33); Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., (Paris 1903–50) 11.1:678–681. a. le roy, Le Gallicanisme au XVIII^e siècle: La France et Rome de 1700 à 1715 … (Paris 1892). j. f. thomas, La Querelle de l'Unigenitus (Paris 1950). c. urbain and e. levesque, Les Dernières années de Bossuet (Paris 1929). l. ceyssens, "Le cardinal de Noailles," in Autour de l'Unigenitus (Leuven 1987). p. blet, Le Clergé de France, Louis XIV et le Saint-Siège de 1695 à 1715 (Rome 1989). j. m. gres-gayer, Théologie et pouvoir en Sorbonne (Paris 1991). p. chaunu, m. foisil, f. de noirfontaine, Le basculement religieux de Paris au XVIIIe siècle (Paris 1998). m. j. michel, Jansénisme et Paris, 1640–1730 (Paris 2000).

[d. r. campbell/

j. m. gres-gayer]