Pierre de Marca
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|
Roman Catholic Church | |
---|---|
Archdiocese | Paris |
See | Notre-Dame de Paris |
Installed | 5 June 1662 |
Term ended | 29 June 1662 |
Predecessor | Jean François Paul de Gondi |
Successor | Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont |
Other post(s) | Archbishop of Toulouse Bishop of Couserans |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Died | 29 June 1662 Paris, France | (aged 68)
Nationality | Navarrese |
Spouse |
Marguerite de Forgues
(m. 1618) |
Alma mater | University of Toulouse |
Pierre de Marca (24 January 1594 – 29 June 1662) was a French bishop and historian, born at Gan in Béarn of a family distinguished in the magistracy.[1]
His family was known among judicial circles in the 16th century, and maintained the
He ardently called for the armed intervention of
During the siege of La Rochelle, he performed a mission which brought him in touch with Richelieu, who shortly afterwards nominated him as intendant de justice in Béarn (1631). In 1639 Marca was summoned to Paris to serve as counsellor of state. The following year, the question of the intervention of kings in the election of bishops having been raised in a pamphlet by Charles Hersent (Optatus Gallus de cavendo schismate, 1640), Marca defended what were then called the liberties of the Gallican Church, in his celebrated treatise De concordia sacerdotii et imperii seu de libertatibus ecclesiae gallicanae (Paris, 1641). He was soon rewarded for this service. He was widowed around that time, and decided to enter the clerical orders.
Although Marca had not yet taken even the minor holy orders, he was nominated as
During this time, and until 1651, he served as governor of the province of Catalonia, then occupied by the French. After the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Marca was sent to direct the conference that had been formed to fix the limits of Roussillon, which had just been ceded to France (1660).
Marca allied with
It was difficult for him to please both pope and king. In the struggle against the
When very young Marca had shown an interest in the history of his native land. In 1617, at the age of twenty-three, he had set to work looking through archives, copying charters, and corresponding with the principal men of learning of his time, the brothers Dupuy, André Duchesne and Jean Besly, whom he visited in Poitou. His Histoire de Béarn was published at Paris in 1640. It was not so well received at the time as his De concordia, but has been more appreciated by posterity. If Marca's criticism is too often undecided, both in the ancient epochs, where he supports the text by a certain amount of guesswork and in certain points where he touches on religion, yet he always gives the text correctly. A number of chapters end with an interesting collection of charters. It is to be regretted that this incomplete work does not go beyond 1300.
During his long stay in Catalonia, Marca conducted research to support a geographical and historical study of this province, which was bound to France by so many political and literary associations.
Marca married Marguerite de Forgues on 4 June 1618. They had one son and three daughters together. Their son Galactoire was elected as president of the parliament of Navarre; he died on 10 February 1689.
Two biographies of Marca were written in Latin by intimate friends. Baluze, his secretary, wrote Epistola ad Samuelem Sorbierium, de vita, gestis et scriptis Petri de Marca, Paris, 1663. His cousin, Paul de Faget, published a biography of the bishop at the beginning of a collection of Marca's theological pamphlets, first published by Faget in 1668. This collection contained four of Marca's treatises on the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, the erection of the patriarchate of Constantinople (in Latin), and the sacrament of the Eucharist (in French). It was supposed to contain heretical propositions and caused a good deal of scandal. Baluze and Faget criticized each other in an effort to defend the memory of the prelate.
References
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marca, Pierre de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 681–682. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pierre de Marca". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.