At the end of his studies he obtained a canonate in the chapter in Geneva, whose bishop was living in Annecy.
He had been the guardian of his nine siblings after their father's death (one of whom, Reine Philiberte de Varicourt, became an adoptive daughter of Voltaire), and his wish was to become the dean and parish priest of Gex.
During the Reign of Terror he fled to the United Kingdom but was forced to return to the continent due to his poor health.
On 9 Thermidor he thought he could at last re-assume his position in the parish at Gex, but was instead forced to flee, this time to Italy, where pope Pius VII spotted him and took him to Rome.
Faithful to the Pays de Gex, he left a part of his property to Pougny and his birthplace of Versonnex after his death.