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 TALBOT

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TALLETRAND-FERIGORD

moment." For two years Dr. Talbot endured with heroic constancy all the sufferings of his painful disease and the hardships and filth of his loathsome dungeon. He died in prison in the beginning of November, 1680. Ormond, in a postscript to a letter of 20 Nov., 1680, addressed to Lord Sutherland, writes: "I have for two or three posts forgot to ac- quaint your Lordship that Peter Talbot, the Titular .\rchbishop of Dublin, is dead, and that care was taken to have the body looked upon by some that knew him." It is the tradition that he was in- terred in the churchyard of St. .'V.ndeon's, close by Lord Portlester's tomb. From his prison cell Dr. Talbot had written on 12 April, 1679, petitioning that a priest be allowed to visit him, as he was bed- ridden "these six months past" and was now in imminent danger of death. The petition was re- fused, but the Venerable Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of .Armagh, was a prisoner for the Faith in an ad- joining cell, and on hearing of Dr. Talbot's dying condition forced his way through the warders and administered to the dying prelate the last consola- tions of religion. Dr. Talbot may justly be ctyled a confessor of the Faith and a true martjTof Christ. WRiTiNfis. — Dr. Talbot, whilst living on the Con- tinent, published several works, as well before his ap- pointment to the See of Dublin, as during his years of exile. His principal writings are: "A Treatise on the Nature of Catholic Faith and Heresy with Reflexions upon the Nullity of the English Protestant Church and Clergy" (8 vols., Rouen, 1657); "The Politician's Catechism", by N. N., printed at Antworp (sic) in the year 1658; "The Nullity of the Prelatique Clergy" (Brussels, 16.59); "The Duty and Com- fort of Suflfering Subjects" (a pastoral letter to the Irish Catholics), Paris, 1674; "Blackloanae Hseresis, Historia et Confutatio, Auctore M. Lomino Theologo, Gandavi anno 1675" (mainly directed against Dr. Sargent; in the appendix is inserted a letter of the nuncio in Paris of 26 July, 1676, congratulating Dr. Talbot on his excellent work and intimating that Sargent had retracted his erroneous propositions); "Primatus Dublinensis, vel summa rationum quibus innititur ecclesia Dublinensis in possessione et pro.secutione sui juris ad primatum Hyberniae. In- sulis, Ex Officina Nicolai de Raohe, sub Bibliis aureis, 1674" (an exceedingly rare work ; there is a copy in the library of the College of Propaganda at Rome, with the inscription, "Ex libris Jacobi Eustachii, Dublinensis, 1683").

Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran.

Talbot, Thomas Joseph, b. 14 February, 1727; d. at Hotwells, near Bristol, 24 April, 1795. Brother of the fourteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, and of Bishop James Talbot (q. v.), he was sent to Twyford School, and thence to Douai (1739). In 174.5^6, together with his brother James, he made the grand tour under the tutelage of Alban Butler. He returned to Douai to study theology ; and after ordination he spent some time with Alban Butler at Norwich. In 1754 he was placed at Brockhampton. On the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, Talbot was named President of the College of St. Omer's by the committee of the Parliament of Paris (August, 1762), a post which he accepted only after much hesitation and with great reluctance. He was cimsccrateil to the titular See of Aeon (March, 1766) as coadjutor to Bishop Horn- yold, whom he succeeded in the government of the Midland District (26 December, 1778). His rule fell in a time of transition, when the desire and pros- pect of relief from the Penal Laws led many prominent Catholics to adopt a policy of excessive compromise, the period of the C3atholi(^ Committees and the Cis.alpine Club, for the difficulties of which his peace- ful character was b\it ill-adapted. Although he joined the three other vicars Apostolic in condemning

the proposed oath in 1789, he hesitated to promulgate the condemnation in his district, and in the second condemnation which the other vicars .-Apostolic pub- lished in 1791 he thought it neither expedient nor justifiable to concur. The explanation of this action is to be found in his conviction that peace and con- cord could only be restored to the distracted Catholics by means of mutual concession and charity, a sen- timent which almost all his letters manifest. Cer- tainly the most memorable, as also the most per- manent, act of his administration was his invitation to Dr. John Bew (November, 1793) to take charge of the mission of Oscott and to undertake there the training of students for the priesthood, whereby was made the beginning of Oscott College. Deeply characteristic of the man is his only recorded literary publication, a small treatise on "Almsgiving" which he translated from the French. He was buried in the vault under Trenchard Street church; in 1906 his remains were removed to Downside Abbey.

Bkadt, Episcopal Succession (London. 1S77): Kirk, Biog- raphies of English Catholics (London. 1909); W'ard, Dawn of Catholic Revival in England (2 vols., London, 1909) : Idem, His- tory of St. Edmunds' College (London, 1893); Bcbton, Life of Bishop Challoner (2 vols., London, 1909) ; Amherst, History of Catholic Emancipation (London, 1886) ; Idem, History of Oscott in Oscotian: Knox, Douay Diaries,

J. L. Whitfield. Talisman. See Amulet.

Talleyrand- Perigord, Charles- Maurice de. Prince of Benevento, Bishop of Autun, French minister and ambassador, b. in Paris, 13 February, 1754; d. there, May, 1838. The eldest of an ancient French family, he was destined for Holy orders, owing to an accident which had made him lame. After having completed his studies at the College d'Harcourt, he went to St-Sulpice and, against his inclination, be- came an abbe. He then read the "most revolution- ary books", and at length, giving up his priestly life, plunged into the licentiou-sness of the period. Having, nevertheless, been ordained priest (1779) and ap- pointed general agent of the clergy (1780) he rapidly acquired a reputation as a man of ability. The As- sembly of the Clergy of France of 1782 appointed him their promoter, and in 1785 he became secretary. Owing to his notorious immorality he obtained an episcopal see only through a promise ^\Tung from the dying king by his father, Comte Daniel de Talley- rand. Consecratefl on 16 January, 1789, and pro- moted to the Bishopric of .\utun, he appeared in his diocese only to be elected a member of the "Etats Gen(5raux". He soon became one of the most im- portant personages in Europe, and utilized every op- portunity to advance his private interests.

Opposed in his heart to a revolution which he ac- cused of having "dismembered France", he first advised Louis XVI to dissolve the .\ssembly, but be- lieving the democratic movement irresistible he joined it. As a member of the Constitutional Committee, he took part in the "Declaration of the Rights of Man". He extolled the spoliation of the clergy and took the oath to the Civil Constitution. His chap- ter, however, having described him as deserving "infamy in this world and damnation in the next", he resigned his see. But he had consecrated sever.al constitutional bishops, gi\en Gobel the Bishopric of Paris, and was excommunicated bv pon- tifical Brief of 13 April. 1791. In 1792 he was sent to London on an unotficial diplomatic mission and en- deavoured to organize a Franco-English alliance. He did not, however, obtain more than a promise of neutrality. Finally banished by the Convention, he escaped to the T'nitcd Sl:iti's. He returned to Paris in March, 1796, and, owing to the influence of Barras,was ni)piiiiilcil Minislcrof Koreiiin .MTairs. He immediately wi-li-onicd Hoiuqiartc as tlie great auxiliary "who would make everything smooth". With Bonaparts