Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of Bourg-Argental, Ferdinand-François-Auguste Donnet received his education at the Collége of Annonay and successively in Lyon at the St. Irenaeus Seminary and the Maison des Hautes Études. Ordained priest there in March 1819, he was sent to Irigny as a pastor. Engaging himself in evangelization across Saint-Etienne, Annonay, Bourg, Villefranche, Pont-de-Vaux, Chrlien, Tournon, Saint-Chamond and other towns between 1821 and 1827, he returned to Lyon to serve as pastor of Villefranche-sur-Saône. Vicar general of the archdiocese of Tours and later of the archdiocese of Lyon, he was appointed coadjutor to the bishop of Nancy in 1835, evincing such qualities that two years later he was called to the archiepiscopal see of Bordeaux at the early age of forty one. Receiving his episcopal consecration on May 31, 1835 from Bishop Charles-Joseph-Marie-Auguste de Forbin-Janson, during his forty-one years of administration he showed a prodigious activity in every line of work: religious, social, and even material. To him are due the resumption of provincial councils; the restoration of many shrines like Arcachon, Verdelais, Notre-Dame de la Fin-des-Terres and the reconstruction of the Pey Berland tower. Named commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, noble and count of the Holy Empire on February 2, 1840, by Pope Gregory XVI and assistant at the pontifical throne on the following February 21, Pope Pius IX created him cardinal priest in the consistory of March 15, 1852 with the title of Santa Maria in Via. Senator of the Empire, his affable disposition and cheerful character endeared him to his people, and few bishops have been loved and regretted as much as Donnet. Passing away in Bordeaux in December 1882, he lies interred inside the metropolitan cathedral of the city. In 1826, then a young man, Donnet was about to be buried alive, when after suffering what appeared to be an apoplexy while preaching a lent-sermon, he was declared dead by a physician who was called on site. Speedily placed in a coffin, every preparation was made for his funeral. Although he heard all that was being said and saw all those who came paying their tributes as he was laid out in state, it was not until the very last moment, when the coffin lid was about the be screwed that through one last effort he sat up, to the horror to all of those present.