Maurice-Jean de Broglie

His Grace and Excellency Maurice-Jean, Prince de Broglie
Episc. Gandavense
Diocese	Ghent
See	St Bavo's
Personal details
Died	20 June 1821 Paris
Buried	St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent
Parents	Victor-Francois, Duc de Broglie
Previous post	bishop of Acqui
Education	canon and civil law

Maurice-Jean Madeleine de Broglie (Broglie, Eure, 5 September 1766 – 20 June 1821, Paris) was a French aristocrat and bishop. He was the son of Marshal of France Victor-Francois, Duc de Broglie, created, by Emperor Francis I, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, a title which was to be hereditary in the family.

Called to the ecclesiastical state, Maurice pursued his studies at St.-Sulpice. During the Reign of Terror, when they were driven out of France, he and his father went to Berlin. King Frederick William II of Prussia received the duke with marked distinction and granted to the young prince a provostship in the cathedral chapter of Posen.

Maurice returned to France in 1803, and the steps he took to recover some family property not yet sold brought him to the attention of Napoleon, who invited him to his court and named him his almoner. De Broglie became a follower of the monarch and eulogized him in a pastoral letter issued on the occasion of the victory at the battle of Austerlitz. In 1805 Napoleon nominated him to the See of Acqui, Italy, and in 1807 appointed him Bishop of Ghent, Belgium.

Later, de Broglie showed determined opposition to Napoleon. In 1809, the minister of worship wrote in a letter that the sovereign was highly displeased with the bishop because of his lack of devotion to the royal person; in 1810, the bishop refused the Cross of the Legion of Honor, sent to him by the emperor, since the reckoned that he could not accept such a distinction at the time when the Papal States had been seized, and he explained his refusal in a memoir sent to the minister.

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