His Talents, Birth, Deportment And Position Soon Procured Him The
Appointment Of French Ambassador To The Court Of Spain In 1614, Which High
Position He Left For That Of Ambassador At Rome In 1622, Where He Replaced
The Marquis Of Coeuvres.
He spent two years in the Eternal City, and
subsequently acknowledged that it was there that he conceived the idea
first of embracing Holy Orders; Cardinal de LaValette replacing him at the
Roman Court as French Charge d'Affaires.
From what can be gleaned
in history, this distinguished personage led a princely life, his enormous
rent-roll furnishing the means for a most lordly establishment of
retainers, liveries and domains. [170] His fancy for display, great though
it was, never, however, made him lose sight of the poor, nor turn a deaf
ear to the voice of the needy.
In 1626, the Pope (Barberini), Urban the VIII., having proclaimed a
jubilee, the ex-ambassador, as if a new light had dawned on him, and under
the guidance of a man famous for his pious and ascetic life, Vincent de
Paul, determined to reform his house and whole life. Thus, a few years
after, viz., in 1632, the Commandeur de Sillery sold to Cardinal Richelieu
his sumptuous and princely hotel in Paris, called Sillery, entered Holy
Orders in 1634, and devoted all the energy of his mind and his immense
wealth to the propagation of the faith amongst the aborigines of Canada,
having been induced to do so by the Commandeur de Razili, who had
previously solicited him to join the company des "Cents Associes," or
Hundred Partners, of which Razili was a member.
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