MONTALEMBERT, man"td"Idn"55,r', CHARLES FORBES RENE, COUNT DE TRYON:
French Roman Catholic; b. at London Apr. 15, 1810; d. at
Paris Mar. 12, 1870. After receiving his education
at the Collbge Sainte Barbe, already imbued with
liberal Roman Catholic principles, he
became associated with Lamennais and Lacordaire (qq.v.) in
Paris about 1830; in 1832, when the encyclical of
Aug. 15 condemned Lamennais and his friends,
Montalembert reluctantly parted company with
him, and made his formal submission to Cardinal
Pacoa Dec. 8, 1834. He then spent several years in
Italy and Germany, devoting himself particularly
to the study of early legend and religious art, primarily of the medieval period. The results were
his Histoire de Sainte Elisabeth d'Hongrie
(Paris,
1836) and Du
vandditame et du oatholiciame dares
fart
(1839). He lived in Madeira, 1842-44, but
still continued his political activity, writing several
pamphlets on questions of the day. In the
house
of peers, which he had entered in 1835, Montalem
bert championed Roman Catholicism, for which he
sought to regain temporal power; but his wish to
found an organized Roman Catholic party gained
little favor among the bishops, who feared lay par
ticipation in ecclesiastical and religious affairs.
When Pius IX. ascended the papal throne, Mon
talembert hoped for a triumph of liberal Roman
Catholicism; elected representative for the department
of Doubs, he continued his defense of the
Church; while on the coup
d'Etat
of Dec. 2, 1851, he
became a member of the commission consultatif,
and from 1852 to 1857 was a member of the corps
legislatif. At last, hopeless of his cause, he retired
from public life, representing liberal Roman Car
tholicism only in
Le Correspondant,
and expressed
his fear of the approaching downfall of the tem
poral power of the Church in his
Pie IX. et la Frame
en 18/h9 et en 1869
(Paris, 1860; Eng. transl., Pius
the IX. and France in 184,9 and 1859,
Boston, 1861).
The encyclical of 1864 was a severe blow to his
liberalistic hopes; he sought consolation in wri
ting his
Les Moines d'occadent
(5 vols., Paris, 1860
1867; Eng. transl., 7 vols.,
The Monks of the West,
London, 1861-79). He died before the proclamation
of the infallibility of the pope, yet his letters
show that, much as he deprecated the doctrine, he
would, had he lived, have assented to the will of
the Church. A few other noteworthy books are:
Des Intdr9ta catholt'qttes au XiXe sikcle
(Paris, 1852;
Eng. transl.,
Catholic Interests in the Nineteenth
Century,
London, 1852);
De l'avenir de l'Angleterre
(Paris, 1856; Eng.
transl.,
The Political Future of
England,
London, 1856); Un
debal our l'Inde au
parlement anglais
(Brussels, 1858; Eng. transl.,
Moatale»ibert on Constitutional Liberty,
London,
1858); and
L'Inaurrection Polonaise
(Paris, 1863;
Eng. transl.,
The Insurrection in Poland,
London,
1863). His works were collected in 9 vols., Paris,
1861-68.
(C. Pfender.)
Bibliography:
The main biography in English is by Mrs.
M. O. Oliphant, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1872; in French the
notable work in by E. Lecanuet, 3 vols.,
Parts, 1895-1901. Briefer notices and estimates are: A.
Cochin,
Paris, 1870; A. L. A. Perranl, ib. 1870; G. White, London, 1870; J. T. Foiseet, Lyons, 1877; L. Bouthors, Abbeville, 1896; C. de Meaux, Paris, 1897; and E. Leoanuet,
L'-0plise et to second empire, vol. iii,,
Paris, 1902. His
Correspondance
with the Abbé Texier (1835-59) was published, Paris, 1899, and that with Oornudet in 1905.
