Antoine Martinet

Antoine Martinet (22 April 1776 - 6 May 1839) was a Savoyard churchman who served between 1828 and 1839 as Archbishop of Chambéry.

Biography Early years Antoine Martinet was born into an impoverished family in Beaufortain which at that time was administered as part of Queige. After three years of instruction he won the institution's first prize in Rhetoric. The judgment was also made (and repeated) that a dissertation which he produced on Philosophy was of a quality to be expected from a professor rather than from a pupil. On 1 March 1793 Antoine Martinet accompanied the archbishop to Turin in Piedmont, the part of the duchy on the south side of The Alps, which was not at this stage occupied by French forces. When Antoine Martinet returned to Turin towards the end of the 1793, before the route over the mountains was blocked by winter snows, he travelled alone.

The ecclesiastical career ladder in post-war Savoy In 1816 he resumed his teaching work at Moûtiers College, becoming a Theology teacher there the next year. Then, in 1819, he was recalled back to Chambéry by Bishop de Solle, joining the Cathedral chapter as a "Chanoine ordinaire". He was installed by the bishop as head of the Chambéry ecclesiastical court and given responsibility for Christian schools in the diocese. Sources differ as to whether it was in 1821 or 1822 that he was appointed diocesan vicar general. Once installed he lost no time in arranging for the rebuilding of the cathedral, reversing the vandalism inflicted by the French Revolution. Martinet was selected for the post 20 December 1827 A more elaborate memorial service was held at the cathedral on 12 June 1839. A heartfelt and lengthy tribute was delivered by the Abbé Rendu.