Michel Poncet de La Rivière

Michel Poncet de la Rivière (11 July 1671 in Strasbourg, France – 2 August 1730 in Château d’Éventard, near Angers, France) was a French clergyman, preacher and, from 1706 to 1730, the 79th bishop of Angers. He was the son of Vincent-Matthias Ponchet de la Riviere, the Lord Lieutenant of Alsace, and his wife, Marie Betauld; the nephew of Michel Poncet de la Rivière, the 61st Bishop of Uzès (1677–1728); the uncle of Mathias Poncet de la Rivière, the 90th Bishop of Troyes (1742–1758); and the cousin of Joseph Poncet de la Rivière, the Jesuit missionary of Canada. Michel de la Rivière studied theology at the University of Bourges, where he graduated with a doctorate in 1695. His uncle rewarded him with the appointments as the dean of Navacelles near Uzès and the Vicar General of Uzès in the Cévennes, where young Michel had to deal with the revolt of the Camisards, for which he drew up a proposal for their expulsion. In 1689, he also became the commendatory abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pierre in Vierzon and managed to add the post of canon, through régale, in Sarlat. He was ordained as a priest in the next year. On 7 June 1706, Michel de la Rivière was appointed as the 79th Bishop of Angers. Two months later, on 1 August, he was consecrated in Paris at the Église des Grandes-Jésuits [ Great Church of the Jesuits ] by the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal de Noailles. As the Bishop of Angers, La Rivière was firm and orthodox. He assigned his Vicar General, François Babin, to write the essay, Conferences d’Angers, published in 1716; promoted the Papal bull, Unigenitus, against Jansenism; condemned Les Hexples, ou les six colomnes sur la Constitution Unigenitus, the 1721 collection of six Jansenist essays; denied the appeal from the Benedictines of the five Angevin abbeys; defeated two bishops in a debate at the Assembly of the Clergy in 1725. But he also found the time to dedicate in 1710 l'Église du Bon-Pasteur [ Church of the Good Shepherd ], built on rue Saint-Nicolas [ St.