Emmanuel d'Alzon

Emmanuel d'Alzon (August 30, 1810 – November 21, 1880) was a leading figure of the Church in France in the 19th century.

He was born in Le Vigan, Gard, in southern France, to an and intensely Catholic family from the Cévennes Mountains, the oldest of four children.

In 1816 the family moved to the family château of Lavagnac (Hérault) where d'Alzon received his early education at home at the hands of tutors. From 1823 to 1828 d'Alzon studied at the renowned Parisian colleges of Lycée Louis-le-Grand and Collège Stanislas de Paris. It was at the end of his secondary studies that he came into contact with the influential thinker, Félicité de Lamennais, much of whose early teachings on the political order and Christian society would mark the young d'Alzon. In 1828 d'Alzon enrolled in law school in Paris but never finished because of the political upheavals which struck France in 1830. During these years in the French capital he had come to know a host of distinguished young men, some of whom remained friends throughout his life, Henri Lacordaire, who would re-establish the Dominican order in France, Olympe Philippe Gerbet, founder of La Revue catholique, Eugène de la Gournerie, author of Rome chrétienne and other works, Louis Antoine de Salinis, founder of the Association pour la défense de la religion catholique, Théodore Combalot, noted preacher, Jean Melchior du Lac, prolific journalist, and Count Charles de Montalembert, journalist, historian, and politician.

In 1832 d'Alzon, against the wishes of his parents since he was an only son of a noble family, decided to enter the diocesan seminary of Montpellier. However, the following year, disappointed by the lack of ambition of the students and the lack of depth of the course work, he went to Rome where he stayed until 1835. In Rome he completed his theological studies by seeking out outstanding tutors such as the Capuchin Cardinal Micara, the Dominican Fr. Olivieri, soon to become master-general of the order, Nicholas Wiseman, the Englishman who would be named a cardinal, Fr. Ventura, superior general of the Theatines, and Fr. Mazzetti, an influential Carmelite. On 26 December 1834, he was ordained. He continued studies until May of the following year.

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