Pierre Guérin de Tencin

Pierre Guérin de Tencin ( born August 22, 1680 in Grenoble, † March 2, 1758 in Lyon ) was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was also Archbishop of Embrun (1724-1740) and Lyon ( 1740-1758 ).

Life and work

His father was Antoine Guérin de Tencin (1641-1705) and his mother Louise de Buffévent, both married in Grenoble since September 22, 1673. One of his sisters was the Claudine Guérin de Tencin a Salonnière in Paris and biological mother of the mathematician Jean Baptiste le Rond encyclopedist and d' Alembert.

After studying with the Oratorians in his hometown, he enrolled at the Sorbonne, where he was in 1702 and 1705 Prior doctorate. He was vicar general of the diocese of Sens and in 1721 he accompanied Cardinal de Rohan to Rome, where it took part in the conclave to support Cardinal Conti. He remained in Rome to support the abbot of the monastery Trois- Fontaines, to Benedict XIII. made him Archbishop of Embrun on June 26, 1724.

Pope Clement XII. appointed him a cardinal on February 23, 1739, his Titularkirchen were St. Nereus and Achilleus. As a French ambassador he remained until 1742 in Rome, where he was then appointed on November 19, 1740 to the Archbishop of Lyon. France's King Louis XV. appointed him in September 1742 to the Minister of State without portfolio.

He persecuted the Jansenists with great severity, and sat on a provincial synod in Embrun Bishop Jean de Castellane from Soanen despite his age of 80 years because he had violated the bull Unigenitus.

Cardinal Tencin lost after the death of the aged Cardinal and rulers Minister André- Hercule de Fleury (29 January 1743), who had greatly assisted him in influence. 1749 died his sister Claudine Guérin de Tencin, who also contributed a lot to his rise up the corporate ladder. Finally he retired in 1752 returned to his diocese of Lyon.