Invitation to a Funeral, [before 22 December 1781]
Invitation to a Funeral
Printed invitation: American Philosophical Society
[before December 22, 1781]
M
VOUS êtes prié de la part de Messieurs LES DOYEN, CHANOINES ET CHAPITRE de l’Eglise de Paris, d’assister au Service solemnel qu’ils célébreront Samedi 22 Décembre 1781, à onze heures très-précises, pour le repos de l’Ame d’Illustrissime & Révérendissime Pere en Dieu, Monseigneur CHRISTOPHE DE BEAUMONT, Archevêque de Paris, Duc de Saint-Cloud, Pair de France, Commandeur de l’Ordre du Saint-Esprit, Comte de Lyon, Proviseur de Sorbonne, &c.4
De profundis.
Messieurs & Dames s’y trouveront s’il leur plaît.
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin Ministre / des Provinces unis de Lamerique / A Passy
4. The archbishop (b. 1703), an intransigent opponent of the Jansenists, was at the center of the controversy over the “refusal of sacraments” wherein suspected Jansenists were denied last rites. When the Parlement intervened, a constitutional crisis developed and Beaumont was exiled several times by Louis XV. Beaumont was a frequent critic of Enlightenment figures, among them Voltaire and Helvétius, and provided refuge to many expelled Jesuits. He died at the archbishop’s palace in Paris on Dec. 12, having returned that October for the birth of the dauphin: DBF; Jean Egret, Louis XV et l’opposition parlementaire, 1715–1774 (Paris, 1970), pp. 50–7, 68–70; Jour. de Paris, Dec. 14 and 15.