Armand Francois-Marie de Charbonnel was born in Flachat castle, near Monistrol-sur-Loire, France, on December 1, 1802. He studied in the colleges of Montbrisson and Annonay in the Ardèche and then in the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1825 and entered the Sulpicians in 1826. He taught in the seminaries of Lyon (1826-1833), Versailles and Bordeaux (1834-1839). In 1839 he went to America and he ministered as assistant priest in the parish of Notre-Dame, Montreal until 1847. During 1841 he spent a few months in Baltimore to study English. During that period he refused to become bishop and acquired a reputation as a preacher. He returned to France in 1847, after a period of illness from typhus. He then taught philosophy in the seminary of Aix-en-Provence and he was there when he was appointed bishop of Toronto at the beginning of 1850. Pope Pius IX ordained him bishop in the Sistine Chapel on March 26.
At that time the diocese had about 80,000 Catholics, mainly Irish, and 28 diocesan priests. Bishop Charbonnel set about bringing order to the financial administration. He had 23 churches built, greatly increased the number of both diocesan and religious clergy, founded a number of welfare institutions, built schools and founded Catholic newspapers. In 1856 he succeeded in having the diocese divided and this was achieved by creating the dioceses of Hamilton and London. From 1856 onwards he set about convincing Rome that the clergy and influential Catholics did not like him because of the linguistic and cultural difference between himself and his flock. He obtained Rome’s permission to absent himself from his diocese for several months in the period 1856-1858 and during that time he preached in France to promote the work of the Propagation of the Faith. In 1859 he succeeded in having a coadjutor appointed in the person of Father J.J. Lynch who was of Irish birth. He resigned on April 26, 1850 and retired to the Capuchin monastery of Rieti in Italy. Having done his novitiate, he returned to France and became one of the auxiliaries of the archbishop of Lyon. He died in the Capuchin monastery of Crest, in the diocese of Valence, on March 29, 1891.
Relations with the Oblates
Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal had written to Bishop de Mazenod on March 14, 1849, asking him to intervene with Rome with a view to having a bishop appointed as soon as possible to the see of Toronto, as the see had been vacant since the death of Bishop Michael Power on October 1, 1847. On April 16, 1849, Bishop de Mazenod wrote to Cardinal Antonelli, Secretary of State to Pope Pius IX. He said that Father Larkin, a New York Jesuit, continued to refuse to become bishop and that one of other two clergy proposed by the bishops of Canada should be appointed. These were Father Charbonnel, a Sulpician, and Father McDonald, vicar general of Kingston. He pointed out that this appointment was urgent because the administrator of the diocese had just died, that there were only three or four priests in the city and that since the cathedral was deeply in debt it was liable to be sold to the Protestants. The Pope was then in Gaeta, having fled the city of Rome during the revolution of 1848. It was not until April 1850 that the Congregation of Propaganda Fide sent the documents to the Bishop of Marseilles for the canonical institution of Bishop Charbonnel and his appointment as bishop of Toronto. Bishop de Mazenod immediately informed the newly elected bishop who was in Aix, inviting him to come and receive the documents, to arrange for his ordination as bishop and to travel as soon as possible to Toronto. On April 18, he wrote to Monsignor Barnabò and to Cardinal Franzoni in Propaganda, to let them know that he had delivered their message as requested and that Father Charbonnel “still hoped to obtain a dispensation from the weighty burden that had been placed on his shoulders.”
The bishop arrived in Toronto on September 21, 1850 and immediately realized that there was urgent need for priests. He wrote to Bishop de Mazenod on September 25 saying that he had heard that there were three Oblates who had just arrived from France for the diocese of Buffalo but had not found it possible to settle there. He asked that they be sent to his diocese, two to Hamilton and one to London. He then wrote to the Oblates in Bytown, on October 2, and to Father Paré in Montreal, on October 24, telling them that he had vacancies for about twelve Oblates whom he would place in twos in different parishes. Father Édouard Chevalier went to Toronto and told the bishop that they would come to the diocese if they could not reach an agreement with Bishop John Timon on the conditions of making a foundation in Buffalo. Bishop Charbonnel then asked Bishop Timon to surrender his rights to the missionaries. His request was granted, according to a letter written by Bishop Guigues on December 19. Having learned of these negotiations, Bishop de Mazenod wrote to Bishop Guigues on January 10, 1851, asking him to send Fathers Pierre Julien Amisse and Richard Molony to Toronto immediately and these would be followed a short time afterwards by a third priest and a Brother.
Bishop Guigues was in no hurry to carry out the orders he had received. He began by asking for information about the sort of work which would be entrusted to the Oblates, saying that all the Oblates were fully engaged until Easter, that a decision would be made by Father Tempier who was due to make a canonical visitation of the Oblates in Canada during the summer of 1851 and, finally, he added that in the general Chapter of 1850 it had been decided not to establish any foundation except where a number of Oblates could be employed so that they could form a community. During his visit to Canada, Father Tempier decided to send Oblates to the diocese of Toronto but Father Jacques Santoni, the newly appointed Provincial of Canada, did not agree and instead he sent the Oblates to Buffalo.
Disillusioned, Bishop Charbonnel wrote to the Congregation of Propaganda Fide on May 18, 1852, saying that he had hoped to have Capuchins, Marists and Oblates but nobody had come. The last mentioned had “asked for conditions which were unacceptable.” Writing on the following July 26, Bishop de Mazenod expressed regret that “apparently insurmountable obstacles were raised to your adopting as your co-operators in your apostolic ministry the legitimate children of my family.” He scolded him for accepting too easily into his diocese some Oblates who had left the Congregation.
In 1855, Bishop Charbonnel again suggested that the Oblates make a foundation in his diocese. This time Father Santoni seemed to agree but he expressed the desire that Oblates become the proprietors of the establishment in question. There was no follow-up to the question. Besides, in 1855, the bishop was less in need of the Oblates; he mentioned that the diocese now had 42 new priests and that there were forty candidates studying for the priesthood.
Between 1850 and 1860, Bishop Charbonnel often had occasion to be in touch with the Oblates and especially with Bishop Guigues in Bytown. During the summer of 1850 he wrote to Mr. Barclay, Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, deploring the fact that the Company had refused the Oblates permission to have a permanent dwelling in the Company’s trading posts. From 1851 to 1856 he battled alongside Bishop Guigues to obtain separate Catholic schools in Upper Canada. In 1852 he admitted to Bishop Guigues that he was not in favour of affiliating the college in Bytown to the University of Toronto because the latter was “an institute of Protestantism and indifference.” Later he interceded with the government to obtain a grant for the college in Bytown. In 1853 he encouraged Bishop Guigues to establish the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in his diocese. In 1856, Bishop Guigues consulted the bishop of Toronto regarding the agreement he wished to sign with the Oblates concerning their respective properties in Bytown.
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
