Louis Belmas

Louis Belmas (11 August 1757 - Montréal, Aude - 21 July 1841) was a French churchman and bishop.

Life

Early life

Louis was born to a publicly esteemed businessman in Languedoc and his wife, both of whom died within six weeks of each other when Louis was aged only 4½. They left behind Louis, seven other children and a very limited fortune. Louis was adopted by his godfather, who took him into his household and took charge of his education. Louis was first sent to the schools in his small birthplace and soon began studying Latin at the collège in Carcassonne. There, from his 'sixième' year to his 'rhétorique' year at the collège de l'Esquille at Toulouse, he enjoyed brilliant success, nearly always coming first in the public exams.

At the end of 1772 he received the tonsure from Armand Bazin de Bezons, bishop of Carcassonne, who two years later gave Belmas a bursary to attend the Toulouse seminary, run by Oratorian priests, where Belmas studied philosophy and theology with distinction and from which he graduated bachelor. He then returned to Carcassonne and was ordained priest on 22 December 1781. He was then made vicar of Saint-Michel de Carcassonne, a role he successfully filled until 1782, when he became a prebendary at the collegial church of Saint-Vincent de Montréal and was summoned by bishop M. Chastenet de Puységur to head the seminary at Carcassonne. In 1786, de Puységur made him promoter general of the diocese and (on Belmas's request) granted him the cure of Carlipa. By the general wish of the people of Carlipa, Belmas was then summoned to the cure of Castelnaudary, capital of Lauraguais. In this new post, he won the commitment and confidence of those with whom he disagreed and protected démissionnaires from over-exultancy, becoming known in Castelnaudary as le Bon curé. His reputation of bounty spread with that of his major talents in administration and charity, to the point where (aged 43) he was judged worthy of a see.