Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/166

 DONNET

132

DONOSO

(New York, 18961; Bode, Geschichte der dmtschm Plaslik (Berlin, 1SS7); Nagleb, Kunsthrleiikm (Munich, 1836-52); MuLLER, Kunstlerlexikon (Stuttgart, 185T).

M. L. Handlet.

Donnet, FERDiNAND-FRANt-ois-AuGUSTE, a French c.irdin:il, b. at Bourg-Argental (Loire), 1795; d. at Bordeaux, 1SS2. He studied in the seminary of St. Irenoeus at Lyons, taught at the college of Belley, was ordained priest in 1819, and, after some time spent at the Maison des hautes Hudes founded by Cardinal Fesch, went to Irigny as pastor. From 1S21 to 1S27 he engaged in missionarj' work and then returned to Lyons to be made pastor of Villefranche. Appointed coadjutor to the Bishop of Nancy, 1835, he evinced such sterling qualities that two years later he was called to the archiepiscopal See of Bordeaux. During the forty-one years of his administration he showed a prodigious activity in everj' line of work, religious, social, and even material. To him are due the re- simiption of provincial councils; the restoration of many shrines like Arcachon, Verdelais, Notre-Dame de la Fin-de.s-terres; the reconstruction of the Pey Berland tower, etc. Cardinal in 1852, and Senator of the Empire, he used his influence in favour of the pope, the liberty of teaching, and the repression of the irre- ligious press. At the Vatican Council he openly sided with the Lntraraontanes like Plantier, Pie, etc. His affable disposition and cheerful character endeared hira to his people, and few bishops have been loved and regretted as Donnet was. His eiilogj' was pro- nounced by Canon Laprie at the cathedral of Bor- deaux, 1883, and by AL Boue at the academy of the same place, 1884. Cardinal Donnet's works comprise twelve volumes (8vo) of "Instructions pastorales, mandements, lettres, discours"; also "Lettres, dis- cours et autres documents relatifs S, la question romaine" (Bordeaux, 1865).

PouGEOis, Vie, apostolat et episcopat du cardinal Donnet (Paris, 1884); C.^staing in ff«>. Ca(A. (1884), 453; Pionneac, ibid., 33; Jerome and Lelievre, in U episcopat jran^ais, 1802- 1905 (Paris, 1907), s. vv. Nancy and Bordeaux.

J. F. SOLLIER.

Donoso Cortes, Juan Fr.a.ncisco Maria de la Salud.^d, Marquess of Valdegamas, author and diplo- mat, b. 6 May, 1809, at Valle de la Serena in the prov- ince of Estremadura, Spain; d. 3 May, 1S53, at Paris. His father, Pedro Donoso Cort<^s, was a descendant of Hernando Cortes, the conquistador. At the age of eleven, Donoso Cortes had finished liis humanities, and at twelve had begun the study of law at the Uni- versity of Salamanca; at sixteen he received his de- gree of licentiate from the University of Seville, and at eighteen became professor of literature at the Col- lege of Caceres. Carried away by the rationalism prevalent in Spain following upon the French inva- sions, he ardently embraced the principles of Liberal- ism and fell under the influence of Jean-Jacques Rous- seau, whom he later characterized as "the most elo- quent of sophists". In 1S30 he went to Madrid and, with his characteristic energy, engaged in the political controversies of the day, espousing the cause of the reigning dynasty. A memoir addressed to Ferdinand VII on the situation of the Spanish monarchy, advo- cating the abolishment of the Sahc Law, attracted wide attention and procured for him an official posi- tion under the Minister of Justice. But the revolu- tionary events of 1S34 led him to reconsider the f round of his political liberalism, and drew a second rochure from his pen scathingly criticizing the revo- lutionary movement. On the death of Ferdinand, he remained a faithful adherent of the queen-mother Maria Cristina anil of her infant daughter Isabella, whose title was disputed by Don Carlos in virtue of the Salic Law against the succession in the female line to the Spanish throne. In 1836, under the ministry of Mendizabal, he became secretary of the Council. In this same year he gave a brilliant course of lectures on political rights at the Athenaeum of Madrid. In 1837

Doxoso Cortes

he was elected deputy to the Cortes from Cadiz. In 1840, following upon the revolution headed by Es- partero, Duke of Victoria, he followed the exiled queen Maria Cristina to Paris in the post of private secretary. He accompanied her on her return after the overthrow of Espartero, 1S43, and was appointed to the office of secretary and director of the studies of the young queen, Isabella, was created Marquess of Valdegamas, and entered the Senate. For his elo- quent advocacy of the "Spanish marriages" (the simultaneous alliance of Isabella with Francesco of

Assisi and of her

sister with the Duke of Montpen- sier) he was made an officer of the Legion of Honour by Louis Philippe.

The death of a dearly beloved brother at this time made a pro- found impression upon Donoso Cortes. The mys- tery of human des- tiny assumed for lum a new aspect, and from this time he became an ar- dent champion of the Catholic Church. On the 4th of January,

1849, he prono\mced a remarkable discourse in the Cortes in which he publicly repudiated his Liberalistic principles, branding them as "sterile and disastrous ideas in which are comprehended all the errors of the past three centuries, intended to disturb and disrupt human society". In 1849 he represented Spain as min ister plenipotentiary at the court of Berlin, and afterwards at Paris (1S50-53), where he died.

The complete works of Donoso Cortes, with a bio- graphical sketch liy Gabino Tejado, were published in 1854-55 (Madrid). A translation into French of his principal works, with an introduction liy Louis ^'euil- lot, was published at Paris (1S5S-59). His most notable work is his " Ensayo sobre El Catolicismo, El Liberalismo y El Socialismo" (English translation,

Philadelphia, 1862; Dublin, ). This work was

written at the instance of Louis Vcuillot, who was an intimate friend of the author, and places Donoso Cortes in the first rank of Catholic publicists. It is an exposition of the impotence of all human systems of philosophy to solve the problem of human destiny and of the absolute dependence of humanity upon the Catholic Church for its social and political salvation. LTpon its publication the work was acrimoniously at' tacked by the Alilie Gaudel, \'icar-General of Orleans, in a series of articles in the " Ami de la Religion", and as vigorously defended by Louis Veuillot in " L'Uni- vers". Donoso Cortes at once submitted his work to the Holy See, which refused to interdict it or any of the propositions declared heretical by the Abb^ (jaii- del. It remains to-day one of the most brilliant and profound expositions of the influence of Catholic truth upon human society from the pen of a pulilicist. In a notable series of letters, from 1849-53, to Count Ra- czyski, at that time Prussian ambassador at Mar drid, Donoso Cortes gives a penetrating analysis ot the social, political, and religious conditions of Europe, and with almost prophetic insight pretlicts the unifi- cation of Germany in a great empire under the Prus- sian monarchy as well as the political decadence of France and the latter's loss of .Alsace and Lorraine.

Tejado in Preface of complete works iMa.iri.l, 1S91); Le- Roux in Lcs Contcmporains, Annct II. \'ot. W ' Paris), p. S3.

Co.NDE B. Fallen.