“ He owes his reputation mainly to the lectures on dogmatic theology, known as the “conferences” of Saint Sulpice, delivered in the church of Saint Sulpice, Paris, from 1803 to 1809, to which admiring crowds were attracted by his lucid exposition and by his graceful oratory. The freedom of his language in 1809, when Napoleon had arrested the pope and declared the annexation of Rome to France, led to a prohibition of his lectures; and the dispersion of the congregation of Saint Sulpice in 1811 was followed by his temporary retirement from the capital. ”

“ FRAYSSINOUS, DENIS ANTOINE LUC, Comte de (1765–1841) , French prelate and statesman, distinguished as an orator and as a controversial writer, was born of humble parentage at Curières, in the department of Aveyron, on the 9th of May 1765. ”