Frédéric, Gabriel, Marie, François de Marguerye was born at Sainte-Marguerite des Loges (diocese of Bayeux) on March 8, 1802. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 31, 1825 when he had finished his theological studies at the major seminary of Bayeux. He worked as chaplain to the royal college of Besançon from 1828 to 1832, canon and Vicar General of Soissons from 1833 to 1837. He was appointed bishop of Saint-Flour on October 2, 1837. On October 15, 1851, he was transferred to the bishopric of Autun. He submitted his resignation in 1872 and retired in Paris where he died in the community of the Lazarist priests, January 20, 1876.
In November of 1857, Bishop de Marguerye came to visit Bishop de Mazenod in Marseilles to ask him for some mission preachers. His request was accepted and in the month of March of 1858 an Oblate community was established in the huge building near the parish church of St. John, a parish the bishop put under the pastoral care of the Oblates. Already in the very first year, the priests preached 18 missions with good results. In December of 1858, the bishop communicated his thanks to the Founder. And in July of 1859, he wrote: “Your beloved sons have produced abundant fruit all over. The clergy and the people hold them in high esteem and love them.” At the end of the month of July, 1859, Bishop de Mazenod made a visit to Autun where the Chapter made him an honorary canon. It was on this occasion that the relics of Saint Lazarus were presented for public veneration. At the beginning of the month of November of that same year, Bishop Marguerye personally brought to Marseilles a relic (an arm) of Saint Lazarus and made his retreat with the Oblates at Notre-Dame de la Garde.
In the face of the backlash of the clergy of Marseilles against the Oblates which occurred following the death of Bishop de Mazenod, Father Fabre decided to remove the scholastic brothers from Marseilles. Bishop de Marguerye offered him the boarding school of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, an establishment which had just closed in Autun. The 1862 academic year opened in this house, a house the bishop often visited. He even presided at the exams there. The relations of the Oblates with Bishop Marguerye were always cordial.
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
