Henri De Nesmond

Henri De Nesmond

a French prelate and academician, was born at Bordeaux about 1645. He descended from a family originally from Ireland, and was the son of a president in the Parliament of Bordeaux. Henri was afforded superior educational advantages, and early entered upon an ecclesiastical career. The success of his preaching caused him to be made successively abbe of Chezy (May 26, 1682) and bishop of Montauban (September 3, 1687). The differences which existed between the court of France and the holy chair delayed the papal bulls of his appointment until October 13, 1692. Intrusted with the government of a diocese in which were a large number of Protestants, he succeeded by his instructions, and still more by the mildness of his zeal and his exemplary manners, in bringing many of them into the Church. He was received as counsellor in the Parliament of Toulouse April 26, 1695, was transferred to the archbishopric of Alby August 15, 1703, and became abbe of the Mas-Garnier in 1715, and archbishop of Toulouse November 5, 1719. In this capacity he was called upon to address Louis XIV and Louis XV in the name of the province of Languedoc. The former of these princes loved to hear him and called him the finest speaker of his kingdom. Mede Nesmond succeeded Flechier in the French Academy June 30,1710. Nesmond died at Toulouse, May 27, 1727. All his wealth he left to the poor and to the hospitals. His Discourses And Sermons. etc., were collected and published (Paris, 1734; 12mo). One of his cousins Francois De Nesmond who made him his heir, was born at Paris, Sept. 21, 1629; became bishop of Baveux August 9, 1661; and died June 16, 1715, dean of the bishops of France, in his diocese, where his memory is held in great veneration through the benefits which he has conferred. See D'Alembert, Hist. des membres de l'Acad. Frank. 4:347; Gallia Christiana volume 13;