May 9, 1734 at the castle of Bonal, near Agen; d. in Munich, September 5, 1800) was a Catholic Bishop and figure in the French Revolution.
Bonal became a canon at Chalons-upon-the-Saone, then Vicar-General of the diocese of Agen and Director of the Carmelite nuns in France, before being made Bishop of Clermont in 1776.
[1] On the eve of the French Revolution, as Bonal was warning his diocesans against the license of the press, showing the evil consequences to France.
"[3] He went as an episcopal delegate to the Estates-General of 1789 by the clergy of the bailiwick of Clermont, and subsequently to the National Assembly, where he led the religious coalition, arguing that "the principles of the French Constitution depend on religion as their eternal basis,"[4] and that Christianity was aligned with, not opposed to, good citizenship.
[1] In 1790, he led most of the episcopal delegates in refusing to vote on the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, claiming that a lay assembly did not have the authority to make the ecclesiastical reforms involved.