Roman Catholic Archbishop. A native of Lille, Michel-Joseph Bourguignon d'Herbigny came from a prosperous family. Entering the Society of Jesus at the age of seventeen, after undergoing studies in Paris and Trier he was ordained priest in Enghien, Belgium, on August 7, 1910. Awarded a prize by the Académie Française for his thesis on Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, he was investigated by the 'Sodalitium Pianum' an unofficial group of censors who battled Modernism. Becoming soon a trusted advisor for Russian affairs in Rome, he was named president of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 1922 and president of the Pontifical Commission for Russia in 1926, established the previous year by Pope Pius XI. Clandestinely consecrated bishop of the titular see of Ilium by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pius XII, he was sent to Russia with the hope of restoring Catholic hierarchy in the USSR previously wiped out by the Bolsheviks. Secretly conferring episcopal orders to a number of local priests to oversee to reorganization of the Catholic Church in the Soviet Union, by 1933, instead of receiving a cardinal's hat as many expected, he fell into a sudden disgrace, being forced to spend the rest of his life in obscurity in various Jesuit houses across Europe. Reasons for this downfall vary from an internal settlement of affairs within the Society of Jesus to discontent due to his privileged relations with Pope Pius XI from the side of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Wlodimir Ledóchowski; from an affair with a woman to the intervention from the Soviet Secret Service as well as his indiscretions and errors of judgments. Forbidden from taking part in any public activities for the rest of his life, he passed away in oblivion in Aix-en-Provence, where he was laid to rest in a simple vault reserved for the clergy at the local cemetery.
Roman Catholic Archbishop. A native of Lille, Michel-Joseph Bourguignon d'Herbigny came from a prosperous family. Entering the Society of Jesus at the age of seventeen, after undergoing studies in Paris and Trier he was ordained priest in Enghien, Belgium, on August 7, 1910. Awarded a prize by the Académie Française for his thesis on Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, he was investigated by the 'Sodalitium Pianum' an unofficial group of censors who battled Modernism. Becoming soon a trusted advisor for Russian affairs in Rome, he was named president of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 1922 and president of the Pontifical Commission for Russia in 1926, established the previous year by Pope Pius XI. Clandestinely consecrated bishop of the titular see of Ilium by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pius XII, he was sent to Russia with the hope of restoring Catholic hierarchy in the USSR previously wiped out by the Bolsheviks. Secretly conferring episcopal orders to a number of local priests to oversee to reorganization of the Catholic Church in the Soviet Union, by 1933, instead of receiving a cardinal's hat as many expected, he fell into a sudden disgrace, being forced to spend the rest of his life in obscurity in various Jesuit houses across Europe. Reasons for this downfall vary from an internal settlement of affairs within the Society of Jesus to discontent due to his privileged relations with Pope Pius XI from the side of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Wlodimir Ledóchowski; from an affair with a woman to the intervention from the Soviet Secret Service as well as his indiscretions and errors of judgments. Forbidden from taking part in any public activities for the rest of his life, he passed away in oblivion in Aix-en-Provence, where he was laid to rest in a simple vault reserved for the clergy at the local cemetery.
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