Denis-Auguste Affre

Denis-Auguste Affre (27 September 1793–27 June 1848), archbishop of Paris from 1840, was born at St Rome, in the department of Tarn. The Archbishop is mainly remembered due to the circumstances surrounding his death, when he tried to pacify the insurgents during the insurrection of June 1848 following the declaration of the Second Republic, and was shot while speaking to the crowd, dying almost immediately after. He was a staunch defender of academic freedom, a view that at the time clashed with that of the King of the French, Louis-Philippe.

Biography

Denis-Augiste Affre was born at St. Rome-de-Tam in France into a devout Catholic family. Ar the age of 14 he entered the Saint Sulpie Seminary, which at the time was directed by his uncle, Denis Boyer. Affre excelled in his studies for the priesthood, and after graduation in 1818 he served as professor of dogmatic theology at Nantes. Upon ordination, he became a member of the Sulpician Community. After filling a number of important ecclesiastical offices as vicar-general of Luçon (1821), Amiens (1823), and then Paris (1834) he was nominated and appointed archbishop of Paris in 1840

The Political Context

The political context during which Affre exercised his ministy and his eight years as a bishop was a turbulent period for Christianity, especially for the Roman Catholic Church in France. Before the 1788-89 Revolution, the French Catholic Church was the "most floursihing Catholic church in the world" .Under the Concordat, priests were still paid by the state and required to swear the oath of loyalty. The Catholic Church was recognized as the religion of the majority of the French but the religious freedom introduced by the Revolution remained, so Jews and Protestants retained their rights. The Pope would be allowed to remove bishops. However, they would still be nominated by the State. The Church also relinquished claims to property that had been confiscated by the state.

The Reign of Louis-Philippe, 1830-1848

After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo (1815), a constitutional monarchy was established. In 1830, Louis-Philippe became the so-called citizen King. However, he retained quite a degree of personal power and one of the first Acts of his administration was to ban discussion about the political legitimacy of the constitutional monarchy. Archbishop Affre was at odds with the Louis-Philippe adminstration on several issues. As Archbishop, he made clerical education a priority and wanted greater freedom ((liberté d'enseignement) for the Church to control the curriculum. In fact, he wanted to free the curriculum to enable greater academic freedom, rather than to limit this, which he extended to public education as well. Public education since the Revolution was dominated by secularism, which meant that teachers could not teach content associated with religious conviction.

Alhough he was opposed to the government during the debate on education, he took no part in politics. However, when the Second Republic was established in 1848 (which lasted until the start of Napoleon III's Second Empire in 1852) he welcomed this. Unfortunately, while power was being transferred, many public servants went unpaid and in June 1848 they rioted in the streets of Paris. Affre was led to believe that his personal interference might be restore peace between the soldiery and the insurgents. Accordingly, in spite of the warning of General Cavaignac, he mounted the barricade at the entrance to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, bearing a green branch as a sign of peace. He had spoken only a few words when the insurgents, hearing some shots, and assuming that they had been betrayed, opened fire on the national guard. Struck by a stray bullet, the archbishop fell. He was removed to his palace, where he died on 27 June.

Next day the National Assembly issued a decree expressing their great sorrow on account of his death. The Archbishop's public funeral took place on 7 July. Affre had told General Cavaignac, "My life is of little value, I will gladly risk it."

Publications

The archbishop wrote several treatises of considerable value. In his is Essai sur les hieroglyphes egyptiens (Paris, 1834), he showed that Champollion's system was insufficient to explain the hieroglyphics. Other publications inlcude Traité de l'administration temporelle des paroisses (Paris, 1827; 11th ed., 1890), Traité de la propriété des biens ecclésiastiques (Paris, 1837) and Introduction philosophique à l'étude du Christianisme (Paris, 5th ed., 1846).

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Alazard, L Denis-Auguste Affre, archeveque de Paris Paris, J. Vrin, 1971.
• Cahdwick, Owen A History of Christianity, NY: Barnes & Noble, 2005 ISBN 0760773327
• Ricard, Antonio Les grands eveques de l'eglise de France au XIXe siècle Lille, Société de Saint-Augustin, Desclée, De Brouwer [1893]-94.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External Links

• [Denis-Auguste Affre at Britannica online Retrieved September 22, 2007.
• Denis-Auguste-Affre at The Catholic Encyclopeda Retrieved September 22, 2007.

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