Charles Maurice Le Tellier (1642 in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

– 1710 in

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

) was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Archbishop of Reims The Archdiocese of Reims or Rheims (; French language, French: ''Archidiocèse de Reims'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese around 250 by Sixtus of Reims, the diocese w ...

. The son of

Michel Le Tellier Michel Le Tellier, marquis de Barbezieux, seigneur de Chaville et de Viroflay (19 April 1603 – 30 October 1685) was a French statesman. Biography Le Tellier was born in Paris to a Parisian magistrate, Michel III Le Tellier, and his wife, Cla ...

and brother of

François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois (; 18 January 1641 – 16 July 1691) was the French Secretary of State for War during a significant part of the reign of Louis XIV. He is commonly referred to as "Louvois". Together with his father, ...

, both ministers of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, he studied for the Church, won a doctorate of theology at the Sorbonne and was ordained priest in 1666. Provided, even before his ordination, with several royal abbeys, he rapidly rose to the coadjutorship of

Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital ...

, then to that of

and became titular of that see at the age of twenty-nine. His administration was marked by zeal and success along the lines of popular education, training of clerics, parochial organization, restoration of ecclesiastical discipline and extirpation of Protestantism from the Sedan district. The importance of his see together with the royal favour brought him to the front in the affairs of the Church in France. As secretary of the '' Petite Assemblée'' of 1681, he reported for the king and against the pope on all disputed points: the extension of the royal claim called ''régale'', the forcible placing of a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbess over the Augustinian nuns of

Charonne

The Cha ...

, and the expulsion of the canonically elected vicars capitular of

Pamiers Pamiers (; ) is a commune and largest city in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the most populous commune in the Ariège department, although it is not t ...

. The famous Gallican Assembly of 1682 was convened at his suggestion. Elected president with Harlay, he caused the bishops to endorse the royal policy of encroachment on church affairs, and even memorialized the pope with a view to make him accept the ''régale''. His comparative moderation in the matter of the four Gallican propositions was due to Bossuet, who remarked that "the glory of the ''régale'' would only be obscured by those odious propositions." As president of the Assembly (1700) which undertook to deal with

Jansenism Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century Christian theology, theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in Kingdom of France, France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of Free will in theology, f ...

and Laxism already judged by the pope, Le Tellier was lenient with the Jansenists and severe with theologians of repute. The same holds true of the various controversies in which he took part: the '' Nouveau Testament de Mons'', the theory of

philosophical sin The existence of philosophical sin was a debate waged in the Catholic Church in the late seventeenth century. A philosophical sin is a morally bad act which violates the natural order of reason, not the divine law. The idea of philosophical sin, ...

and

Molinism Molinism, named after 16th-century Spanish Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina, is the thesis that God has middle knowledge (or ''scientia media''): the knowledge of counterfactuals, particularly counterfactuals regarding human action. It seeks to ...

. Le Tellier is remembered as a successful administrator, an orator of some merit, a promoter of letters, a protector of Saint John Baptist de la Salle,

Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...

, Ruinart, etc., and a bosom friend of Bossuet, whom he consecrated, and visited on his deathbed, and whom he induced to write the "Oraison funèbre de Michel Le Tellier." His manuscripts, in sixty volumes, are at the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, and his library of 50,000 volumes at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. Le Tellier was also a manuscript collector (e.g. Minuscule 10, 11, 13,

284 __NOTOC__ Year 284 ( CCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Carinus and Numerianus (or, less frequently, year 1037 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

, and

467 __NOTOC__ Year 467 (Roman numerals, CDLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pusaeus and Iohannes (consul 467), Iohannes (or, less frequently, year 1220 '' ...

References

* Abbé Joseph Gillet, ''Charles-Maurice Le Tellier'', with an exhaustive bibliography (Paris, 1881), p. xii and passim * Charles Sainte-Beuve, ''Port-Royal'' (ed. 1900), index. *

Luc-Normand Tellier Luc-Normand Tellier (born October 10, 1944) is a Professor Emeritus in spatial economics of the University of Quebec at Montreal. Education and teaching After teaching for two years (1964–1966) at the Collège Saint-André of Kigali, Rwanda ...

, ''Face aux Colbert : les Le Tellier, Vauban, Turgot ... et l'avènement du libéralisme'', Presses de l'Université du Québec, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Tellier, Charles-Maurice 1642 births 1710 deaths University of Paris alumni Clergy from Turin Archbishops of Reims Peers of France Charles Maurice 17th-century peers of France 18th-century peers of France