MAURY, JEAN SIFFREIN , French cardinal and archbishop of Paris, the son of a poor cobbler, was born on June 26, 1746, at Valreas in the Comtat-Venaissin. He was edu cated at the seminary at Avignon. In 1777 he published under the title of Discours choisis his panegyrics on St. Louis, St. Augus tine and Fenelon, his remarks on Bossuet and his Essai sur l'elo quence de la chaire, a volume which contains much good criticism, and remains a French classic. The book was often reprinted as Principes de l'eloquence. He was Lent preacher at court in 1781, when King Louis XVI. said of his sermon : "If the abbe had only said a few words on religion he would have discussed every possi ble subject." In 1781 he obtained the rich priory of Lyons, near Peronne, and in 1785 he was elected to the Academy. In 1789 he was elected a member of the States General by the clergy of the bailliage of Peronne, and from the first proved to be the most able and persevering defender of the ancien regime, although he had drawn up the greater part of the cahier of the clergy of Peronne, which contained a considerable programme of reform. It is said that he attempted to emigrate both in July and in Oct. 1789; but of ter that time he held firmly to his place, when almost universally deserted by his friends. In the Constituent Assembly he fought against the alienation of the property of the clergy. His life was often in danger, but his ready wit always saved it, and it was said that one bon mot would preserve him for a month. When he did emigrate in 1792 he was at once named archbishop in partibus, and extra nuncio to the diet at Frankfort, and in 1794 cardinal. He was finally made bishop of Montefiascone, but in 1798 the French drove him from his retreat, and he sought refuge in Venice and St. Petersburg. Next year he returned to
Rome as ambassador of the exiled Louis XVIII. In 1806 he re turned to France, and in 1810 was made archbishop of Paris. He was presently ordered by the pope to surrender his functions as archbishop of Paris. This he refused to do. At the restoration he was expelled from the Academy and from the archiepiscopal pal ace. He retired to Rome, where he was imprisoned in the castle of St. Angelo for six months. He died in 1817, a year or two after his release, of disease contracted in prison and of chagrin.
The Oeuvres choisies du Cardinal Maury (5 vols., 1827) contain what is worth preserving. Mgr. Ricard has published Maury's Correspondance diplomatique (2 vole., Lille, 1891). For his life and character see Vie du Cardinal Maury, by Louis Siffrein Maury, his nephew (1828) ; J. J. F. Poujoulat, Cardinal Maury, sa vie et ses oeuvres (1855) ; Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi (vol. iv.) ; Mgr. Ricard, L'abbe Maury (1746-91), L'abbe Maury avant 1789, L'abbe Maury et Mirabeau (1887) ; G. Bonet-Maury, Le cardinal Maury d'apris ses memoires et sa correspondance inedits (1892) ; A. Aulard, Les Orateurs de la Constituante (1882). Of the many libels written against him during the Revolution the most noteworthy are the Petit carime de l'abbe Maury, with a supplement called the Seconde annee (1790), and the Vie privee de l'abbe Maury (1790), claimed by J. R. Hebert, but attributed by some writers to Restif de la Bretonne. For further bibliographical details see J. M. Querard, La France litteraire, vol. v. (1833).