Charles Auguste Marie Joseph, Comte de Forbin-Janson

Charles-Auguste-Marie-Joseph, Count of Forbin-Janson, C.P.M. (3 November 1785 – 12 July 1844), was a French aristocrat and prelate who was a founder of the Fathers of Mercy, established in an effort to re-evangelize the French people. He preached throughout North America, taking an active role in reviving the Catholic populations of the United States and Canada. He was influential in establishing an ultramontane stand in the Catholic Church in French-speaking Canada, an influence which would last for generations.

Forbin-Janson also served as the Bishop of Nancy and Toul, and later was the founder of the Association of the Holy Childhood, which worked to support the Catholic Church in its work on the expanding frontiers of North America.

Born in Paris, he was the second son of Count Michel-Palamède de Forbin-Janson and of his wife, Cornélie-Henriette-Sophie-Louise-Hortense-Gabrielle, Princess of Galéan. He was a Knight of Malta from childhood. During the French Revolution, his family took refuge in Bavaria, which was his home until he returned to France in 1800, having been trained for a military career. Though he was to remain an ardent monarchist throughout his life, he accepted the appointment which Napoleon Bonaparte gave him as an Auditor of the Council of State in 1805. His family and the aristocracy looked forward to a most brilliant career as a statesman for him, but at the same time he joined the Congregation of the Holy Virgin (French: Congrégation de la Sainte-Vierge), a religious association of the laity organized in Paris in 1801, which had grown out of the Jesuit-affiliated Sodality of Our Lady after the Suppression of the Society of Jesus.

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