Armand de Foucauld de Pontbriand (24 November 1751 – 2 September 1792) was

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of the Archdiocese of Arles and one of the 191 Catholic Martyrs of September 1792, killed in the

September Massacres The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792, from Sunday, 2 September until Thursday, 6 September, during the French Revolution. Between 1,176 and 1,614 people were killed by '' fédérés'', g ...

which occurred during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

. He was beatified as a member of that group on 17 October 1926 by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fr ...

Life

Armand de Foucauld de Pontbriand was born on 24 November 1751, at

Château de Lascoux The Château de Lascoux, also Château de Celles, is a château in Celles, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. It was built in the 16th century. Notable people Armand de Foucauld de Pontbriand Armand de Foucauld de Pontbriand (24 November ...

in Celles,

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named ...

, the son of Henri de Foucauld (1712–1775), seigneur of Lascoux and Sibylle Marie du Lau d'Allemans. He belonged to the Pontbriand branch of the Foucauld (Périgord) family; he was the great-great uncle of

Charles de Foucauld Charles Eugène de Foucauld de Pontbriand, Viscount of Foucauld (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916) was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Alg ...

(1858–1916). He took religious orders and became canon of

Meaux Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris. Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontaineblea ...

in 1774. In 1781, he was summoned by his first cousin (maternal), Monseigneur

Jean Marie du Lau d'Allemans Jean-Marie du Lau d'Allemans (30 October 1738, Biras – 2 September 1792, Paris) was the last Archbishop of Arles, and was one of the Catholic Martyrs of September 1792, killed in the course of the September Massacres which occurred during the ...

, the archbishop of Arles, to become vicar general. In 1787, he received the

Abbey of Solignac Solignac Abbey, or the Abbey of Saint-Peter and Saint Paul of Solignac, is an abbey in Solignac, near Limoges, in Haute-Vienne. It was founded around 631 AD by Saint Eligius (Éloi). The present buildings date to the 12th century, but have be ...

, near

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

as a benefice, being the last in the line of abbots there.

Martyrdom

During the

, he refused to take the oath demanded by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, and "swear to be faithful to the nation and to maintain liberty and equality or die defending it".Bluche, F. (1986) Septembre 1792 : logiques d'un massacre, p. 219. Held with other " refractory priests" in Carmes Prison, an improvised prison inside the closed

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

of the

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...

s in central Paris, he was given a second chance to take the oath, and again refused. He was among the 191 clergy who were either bayoneted or impaled on pikes on the threshold of the monastery on 2 September 1792. Foucauld de Pontbriant's remains, along with those of his fellow martyrs, are entombed in the cemetery of the former Carmelite priory, 70 rue de Vaugirard, Paris.

References

Bibliography

*(in French) Gérard Cholvy (editor), Un évêque dans la tourmente révolutionnaire, Jean Marie du Lau, archevêque d'Arles, et ses compagnons martyrs, 1792–1992, colloque du IIe centenaire tenu à Arles les 2-4 octobre 1992, Montpellier, Université Paul Valéry, 1995. {{DEFAULTSORT:Foucauld de Pontbriand, Armand de 1751 births 1792 deaths People from Dordogne People murdered in Paris French clergy killed in the French Revolution Beatifications by Pope Pius XI French beatified people 18th-century venerated Christians