Noailles, Louis-Antoine de

▪ French cardinal

born May 27, 1651, Château de Tessières, near Aurillac, France

died May 4, 1729, Paris

      cardinal and archbishop of Paris, who, with his brother, the second duc de Noailles, made the name Noailles one of the most honoured in France.

      Educated in Paris and receiving a doctorate in theology from the Sorbonne, he became successively bishop of Cahors (1679), bishop of Châlons (1680–95), and archbishop of Paris (from 1695); he was named cardinal in 1700.

      He was involved in the controversies over Jansenism, mildly approving the Jansenism of Pasquier Quesnel's Reflexions morales and, by 1713, demonstrating intense opposition to the most resolute anti-Jansenists, the Jesuits. His opposition to Pope Clement XI's anti-Jansenist bull Unigenitus ended ambiguously in 1728, when he accepted it unconditionally after signing a preliminary protest against any such acceptance. He died the following year.

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