FESCH, Joseph (1763-1839), cardinal, archbishop of Lyons, was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, January 3, 1763, six years before the island was conquered by the French. His father, Francis Fesch, of Basel, was a Swiss officer in the service of Genoa, who had married as his second wife a young widow, the mother of Letizia Bonaparte. Joseph Fesch was thus half-brother to Letizia, and uncle to her son Napoleon Bonaparte. He was educated at the seminary of Aix in Provence, took holy orders, and became archdeacon and provost of the chapter of Ajaccio. When the French Revolution broke out, and the chapters were suppressed, Fesch protested against the civil constitution of the clergy, and laid aside his clerical dress. In 1793 he had to quit Corsica, followed the Bonapartes to Toulon, and obtained a post in the army administration. In 1795 he was named commissary of war in the army of Italy, of which his nephew Napoleon Bonaparte became commanderin-chief. After the 18th Brumaire (November 9, 1799) he resumed his ecclesiastical functions, and took part in the negotiations which led up to the concordat of 1801. In the following year he was consecrated archbishop of Lyons, and early in 1803 received a cardinal’s hat. · Napoleon having been proclaimed emperor, and desiring to be crowned at Paris by the pope, Cardinal Fesch was sent as ambassador to Rome to treat with Pius VII. respecting this project. He was received with much distinction, won the pope’s good opinion, and brought the negotiations to a successful issue. On this occasion the cardinal had for his secretary the viscount de Châteaubriand, who had just made himself famous by the publication of his Génie du Christianisme. The association, however, was not a happy one. Cardinal Fesch accompanied Pius VII. to Paris, and ...