Étienne Hubert de Cambacérès

Étienne-Hubert de Cambacérès (11 September 1756 – 25 October 1818) was a French Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Rouen. A notable clergyman during the Napoleonic era, he was also a Senator under the First Empire.

Family Cambacérès was born in Montpellier, the son of Jean Antoine de Cambacérès, a counselor of the Court of Accounts, and his first wife, Marie Rose Vassal. His elder brother was Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, Archchancellor of the French Empire, while another brother, Jean-Pierre-Hugues Cambacérès, was a baron and general under the Empire.

Early life and education Cambacérès entered religious life by vocation. In 1763, he joined the Confraternity of White Penitents in Montpellier and later became its prior in 1804. He studied at the seminary in Avignon and earned a license in canon and civil law (in utroque) from the University of Montpellier in 1777. With the help of his uncle, the vicar general of Bourges, Cambacérès obtained a canonry in Montpellier. By 1789, he served as a canon and vicar general in the Diocese of Alès. He was ordained a priest in 1780 in Montpellier. Napoleon appointed him to the Senate in 1805, and he was made a count of the Empire in 1808.

Later years and death In April 1814, Cambacérès supported the Bourbon Restoration but abstained from political activities during the Hundred Days. He remained Archbishop of Rouen until his death on 25 October 1818. He was buried in Rouen Cathedral, near the mausoleum of the cardinals of Amboise.

Episcopal lineage Cambacérès’s episcopal lineage traces back to Cardinal Scipione Rebiba through Giovanni Battista Caprara and other notable prelates.