“ For thirty years he remained a notable figure in France, doing his utmost to arouse his countrymen from religious indifference. In ecclesiastical policy his views were moderate; thus he opposed the definition of the dogma of papal infallibility both before and during the Vatican council, but was among the first to accept the dogma when decreed. He was a distinguished educationist who fought for the retention of the Latin classics in the schools and instituted the celebrated catechetical method of St Sulpice. ”

“ In 1810 he was sent to a pensionnat ecclésiastique at Paris. Thence he went to the seminary of St Nicolas de Chardonnel in 1813, and was transferred to the seminary of St Sulpice at Paris in 1820. In 1825 he was ordained priest, and was appointed vicar of the Madeleine at Paris. ”