Lavigerie, Charles Martial Allemand

Lavigerie, Charles Martial Allemand (shärl märsēäl` älmäN` lävēzhərē`), 1825–92, French churchman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. near Bayonne. He was ordained in 1849 and became prominent in the newly formed Écoles d'Orient. He was an authority on Islam. He was bishop of Nancy (1863–67), archbishop of Algiers (1867–92), and in 1884 he was named archbishop of the reestablished see of Carthage, a jurisdiction that included all of French Africa. His most successful efforts were directed toward African missions to Muslims, and he founded the White Fathers (the Society of Missionaries of Africa) for this work. He was a leader in the abolition of slavery in Africa. Cardinal Lavigerie created a sensation when (1890) he repudiated royalism and called on Catholics to support the Third Republic wholeheartedly.