DARBOY, ditebwii', GEORGES ( 1813-71 ) . An ill-fated French prelate, Archbishop of Paris. He was educated at the Seminary of Langres and became professor there in 1540, having been ordained priest in 1836. Preceded by his repu tation as translator of Dionysius the Areopagite, he went to Paris in 1845, became almoner of the College Henri IV. in the following year and titular vicar of Paris in 1855. He was in high favor at the Court of Napoleon IlL, was made Bishop of Nancy in 1859. Archbishop of Paris in 1863, and afterwards grand almoner to the Emperor, and Senator. A strenuous upholder of episcopal independence, he stoutly opposed the declaration of the dogma of Papa] infallibility at the Vatican Council. When it was declared. he silently submitted, yet in his diocese continued to disregard Papal interference. Decidedly at variance with the .lesuits, he incurred the dis pleasure of Pius IX., Nrho persistently declined
to confer upon him a cardinal's hat. During the siege of Paris in 1870-71 he was indefatigable iu his care for the sick and wounded soldiers and in works of benevolence, and could not be induced to leave his post or to seek safety in flight dur ing the brief and terrible triumph of the Com mune. He was seized as a hostage by the Com munists, and while the combat raged in the streets of Paris after the entry of the Versailles troops, he was shot in the court of La lioquette Prison, several of his priests and many others sharing his fate. Among his writings arc worthy of mention: Saint Thomas Becket, sa vie it scs lettres ( 186(1 ) ; Les %climes de Ia Bible (8th ed. 1876) : Les saintes femmes (4th ed. 1877). For his biography, consult Foulon ( Paris, 1889).