Jacques-André Emery

He was, says Catholic historian Sicard, "the head and the arm" of the party whose counsels were marked by moderation and good sense; "a man who was rarely endowed in breadth of learning, in knowledge of his time, in the clearness of his views, in the calmness and energy of his decisions; the oracle of the clergy, consulted on all sides less by reason of his high position than of his superior wisdom.

[1] The decisions of the Archiepiscopal Council at Paris concerning the several oaths demanded of the clergy, inspired by Emery, were accepted by large numbers of priests and violently assailed by others.

Emery lent his influence to Cardinal Giuseppe Spina in his efforts to obtain the resignation of the French bishops, in keeping with the will of Pope Pius VII (15 August 1801).

Public religious services were suspended during the Revolution, and the seminaries closed; St-Sulpice was taken over by the revolutionists, and Emery was imprisoned and several times narrowly escaped execution.

The future religion of the country, he wrote to Father Nagot, the first superior, depended on the formation of an American clergy, which alone would be adequate and fit for the work before it.

Despite the discouragements of the first years, he continued the supporter of the institution and welcomed the foundation of the college at Pigeon Hill, and later at Emmitsburg, for young aspirants to the priesthood.

At one time, however, Bishop Carroll feared the withdrawal of the Sulpicians, but his arguments and above all the advice of Pius VII convinced Emery that the good of religion in America required their presence.