Quelen, Hyacinthe Louis De

Quelen, Hyacinthe Louis De a French Roman Catholic prelate of note, was born at Paris, Oct. 8, 1778, and was educated at the seminary in St. Sulpice. In 1807 he was ordained to the priesthood, and made shortly after secretary of cardinal Fesch. When this noted dignitary fell out with Napoleon, Quelen accompanied his eminence to Lyons. Under the Restoration he became general vicar of Talleyrand, took an active part in the establishment of the concordat, and was rewarded for his valuable services by the bishopric in partibus of Samosata in 1819. When Talleyrand was elevated to the archbishopric of Paris, Quelen was made his coadjutor cum spe succedendi, and on Oct. 20, 1821, succeeded Talleyrand in the primacy of France. He made many journeys and busied himself greatly with relique controversies (Francis de Sales, Vincent de Paul); but his stout advocacy of Ultramontanism and the Jesuits, whose expulsion from France in 1828 he vainly endeavored to prevent, made him very unpopular, and he was subjected to repeated attacks in his palace by the mobs of Paris in 1830 and 1831. He lived on, however, until 1839, when sudden death ended the ignominious life of this great ecclesiastic. See Henrion, Vie et Travaux Apostoliques de oM. de Quelen; D'Exauvillez, Vie Abrgee; Clavel, Hist. Chret. des Dioceses de France, s.v.