Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of Bayonne, Charles Martial Allemand-Lavigerie was ordained priest on June 2, 1849 in Paris and for almost seven years he lectured at the theological faculty of Paris and later at the university of Sorbonne, of which he was named titular of the chair of Church history. Director of 'L'Oeuvre des Écoles d'Orient', Lavigerie was soon decorated with the Légion d'honneur, appointed auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota and named domestic prelate of His Holiness on September 20, 1861. Elected bishop of the diocese of Nancy et Toul at the early age of thirty seven, he received his episcopal consecration on March 22, 1863 at the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome from Cardinal Clément Villecourt. Named assistant at the Pontifical throne on April 21, 1863, being in touch with the Islamic world since 1856 upon accenting the direction of the schools of the East, he was promoted to the then recently elevated metropolitan see of Alger on March 27, 1867 by Marshal MacMahon, then governor-general of Algeria. Arriving in the latter country during the time of a great famine, by the following year he had already founded the Society of Missionaries of Africa, more commonly known as the White Fathers or the Pères Blancs and also the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Notre Dame d'Afrique, or the White Sisters for the assistance and possible conversion of the Arabs and the peoples of Central Africa. Establishing Catholic missions all over Africa, he crusaded heavily against the slave trade. Refusing the archbishopric and primatial see of Lyon offered to him by the emperor in order to pursue his activities in Africa, he was named apostolic administrator of Oran on November 9, 1875 and later apostolic administrator of the vicariate of Tunis on June 28, 1881. On November 10, 1884, thanks to his ambitions, Pope Leo XIII established the archdiocese of Carthage, until then a titular see, with Lavigerie himself becoming archbishop of the new see and thus Primate of Africa. Furthermore he was appointed apostolic administrator of the vicariate of Sahara on March 13, 1891. The named Pontiff created him cardinal priest in the consistory of March 27, 1882 with the title of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura. Passing away in Algiers, Lavigerie was given solemn and state funerals took place in Algiers, Tunis and Carthage. His body was ultimately taken to Tunis and deposited in a marvelous tomb specially constructed for him inside the metropolitan cathedral of Carthage on the hill of Byrsa on December 8, 1892. There he rested until 1964, when the cathedral became property of the Government, leading the White Fathers to exhume his remains and transport them to the crypt of the chapel of their General Curia in Rome. A highly popular figure throughout London, Paris, Brussels, Rome and Malta, much has been written about his life and works. Founder among others of the renowned Notre Dame d'Afrique basilica of Algiers and of the National Museum of Carthage which carries his name, he managed to resurrect the latter city, which, under the aegis of France, became back then, a great missionary capital. Several monuments commemorate him across France and Northern Africa, while various are the streets, squares, institutions and buildings that carry his name.