Louis-Ernest Dubois


Louis-Ernest Dubois was a Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Paris. He played a leading role in the period of adjustment to the separation of Church and State in France.

Early life

He was born in Saint-Calais to a family from the adjacent commune of St. Gervais. He was educated at the Seminary of Le Mans. He was ordained priest on 20 September 1879.
After his ordination he worked in the diocese of Le Mans from 1879 until 1898. He was editor of Semaine du fidèle in 1888. He served as Vicar general of the diocese of Le Mans from 1898 until 1901.

Episcopate

appointed him Bishop of Verdun on 18 April 1901. Verdun was one of only two French cities where the bishop was not obliged to leave his palace following the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.
He was promoted to the Archbishop of Bourges in 1909. He spent until 1916 in Bourges until he was transferred to Archbishop of Rouen on 13 March 1916.

Cardinalate

He was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Aquiro in the consistory of December 4, 1916.
He was transferred to become Archbishop of Paris on 13 December 1920. He took part in the 1922 papal conclave that elected Pope Pius XI. Dubois played a conciliatory role in relations with French authorities. He established an ordinariate to co-ordinate, thereby increasing French clerical control of the work of foreign language Catholic chaplaincies in Paris. He remained Archbishop of Paris until his death in 1929. He is buried in Notre-Dame de Paris.

Anecdote

When the existence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was under threat from the Turkish Government, and the incumbent patriarch forced to leave the country, he led an unofficial mission on behalf of the French Government. The British Government reacted to this incident by sending a naval squadron, thus giving rise to the Perote saying "les Anglais ont envoyé de l'acier et les Français Dubois".