Alexandre Monnet

Alexandre-Hippolyte-Xavier Monnet, C.S.Sp. (4 January 1812 – 1 December 1849) was a French Catholic prelate and abolitionist who served as Apostolic Vicar of Madagascar from 1848 until his death. He was previously superior general of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit.

Biography Alexandre Monnet was born on 4 January 1812 in Mouchin, France. In 1837, at the age of 25, he was ordained a priest in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. He became a key advisor and close collaborator to Victor Schœlcher, the statesman who officially drafted France's 1848 decree abolishing slavery.

On 2 March 1848, Monnet was appointed superior general of the Spiritans, a post from which he would resign on 3 October 1848. He was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Madagascar, with a titular bishopric (Pella), on 3 October 1848, a post to which he was consecrated on 5 November. He died on 1 December 1849, at the age of 37.