Louis Antoine de Noailles

Who was Louis Antoine de Noailles?

Louis-Antoine de Noailles, second son of Anne, 1st duc de Noailles, was a French bishop and cardinal.

Noailles received his doctorate in theology from the Sorbonne on 14 March 1676. He was appointed bishop of Cahors in March 1679 but served only briefly before Pope Innocent XI ordered him transferred in 1680 to head the diocese of Châlons-sur-Marne, which made him a peer of France. On 19 August 1695, in recognition of Noailles's family connections, King Louis XIV made him archbishop of Paris and duc de Saint-Cloud, and in 1700 Pope Innocent XII made him a cardinal.

"Lacking in brilliant qualities", according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "he was possessed of piety, zeal, and activity." He is noted for having raised money to feed famine victims by selling his silver tableware in 1709, and for having spent a considerable part of his inheritance on redecorating Notre Dame.

Noailles was a friend of François Fénelon, with whom he had studied at the Collège du Plessis before entering the Sorbonne. Nonetheless, he was among the bishops who condemned Fénelon's Maximes des Saints, ending the theologian's career.