François Antoine Marie Constantin de Méan et de Beaurieux

François- Antoine de Méan de Beaurieux ( born July 6, 1756 in Saive, Belgium, † January 15, 1831 in Mechelen ) was the last Prince-Bishop of Liège and Archbishop of Mechelen. He was known as " Francis Anthony of Mechelen ".

Life

François- Antoine de Méan was born the son of Count François Antoine de Méan de Beaurieux and Countess Maria Elisabeth Hoensbroeck in the castle of Saive. His grandfather was mayor of Liege and his younger brother Constantine Cesar de Méan was later, as Franciscus Antonius had taken over the reign of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, Prime Minister.

Prince Franciscus Antonius de Méan studied in Mainz and Douai, and was ordained a priest on September 17, 1785 in the diocese of Liege. On 19 December 1785, he was ordained Titular Bishop of Hippos and appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Liege. During the Liège Revolution of 1789, he fled with his uncle, the reigning Prince Bishop Caesar Constantine Count of Hoensbroeck to Trier in 1791 and returned back to Liege. After the death of his uncle he was on August 16, 1792 Prince-Bishop of Liège, he also gained the following titles: Duke of Bouillon, Marquis of Franchi Ment, Count of Looz and horn and Baron of Herstal. On September 24, 1792, he was awarded the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

His reign was interrupted between 1792-1801 due to the occupation by French troops. With the Concordat of July 15, 1801 ended the existence of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. Liege was a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Mechelen -Brussels newly created. De Méan de Beaurieux was the last prince-bishop of Liège and was born on July 28, 1817 Archbishop of Mechelen.

William I, King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, Prince-Bishop de Méan had appointed member of the Senate and thus was after 1817 the archbishop the highest representative of the Roman Catholic Church in the Kingdom, which took off the oath to the Constitution. The Holy See rebuked the behavior and de Méan traveled in 1817 to Rome, the Vatican finally confirmed as Archbishop of Mechelen de Méan. The decision Wilhelm I, the diocesan priestly formation, and thus the seminaries to close, resulting in a church dispute. The king had built in the lions ' Collegium Philosophicum " and tried to supervise the training of priests of the Roman Catholic Church since 1825. Only after his death, on 15 January 1831 succeeded his successor Cardinal Sterckx Engelbertus, after the founding of the Kingdom of Belgium, the return of the Formation of Priests in the hands of the bishops.