Archbishop of Rouen

Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose (1800-1883) was named Bishop of Carcassonnein 1847. He was transferred to the see of Évreux in 1854 and shortly afterwards became the Archbishop of Rouen.

Created cardinal in 1863, he became ex-officio senator of the empire. He showed himself a warm advocate of the temporal power of the popes, and firmly protested against the withdrawal of the French army from the Pontifical States.

In 1870, he went to Versailles, the headquarters of the German armies, to entreat Wilhelm I of Prussia to reduce the war contribution imposed on the city of Rouen. Under the republican government that followed the war he uniformly opposed the laws and measures passed against religious congregations and their schools, while endeavoring to inspire his clergy to deference and conciliation in their relations with the civil authorities.

Photographed by Franck of Paris.