ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 14th of December
GUILLAUME BRIÇONNET, CARDINAL
This French cardinal was born at Tours as a son of Jean Briçonnet, Lord of Varennes.
Appointed Superintendent of Finances for the Province of Languedoc under Louis XI, Guillaume Briçonnet discharged the duties of his office with integrity and efficiency.
After he had lost his wife, Raoulette de Beaune, by whom he had three sons, the widower now entered the ecclesiastical state and was named Bishop of Saint-Malo.
On January 16, 1495, Pope Alexander VI invested Guillaume with the Roman purple; the new cardinal taking the title of Cardinal of Saint-Malo, from his episcopal see.
In gratitude for his services to the French crown, Louis bestowed upon him the rich Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres and the government of Languedoc. Guillaume retired and died December 14, 1514. He was buried in a superb mausoleum which he had built for himself in the church of Our Lady.
Whilst in power, Briçonnet showed himself a patron of men of letters; they dedicated their works to him and became his panegyrists. He was called oraculum regis and regni columna. His life was in fact swayed by ambition and occupied by intrigues. He composed a manual of Latin prayers, dedicated to Charles VIII. At Saint-Malo he issued several synodal instructions.
Excerpts from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
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