Bonnechose was born in Paris. Entering the magistracy, he became attorney-general for the district of
Besançon in 1830, but having received
holy orders at
Strasburg, under the episcopate of
Johann Franz Lepape von Trevern, he was made professor of sacred eloquence in the school of higher studies founded at Besançon by
Cardinal de Rohan. he became ex-officio
senator of the empire. The cardinal showed himself a warm advocate of the
temporal power of the popes, and firmly protested against the withdrawal of the French army from the
Pontifical States. In 1870, he went to
Versailles, the headquarters of the German armies, to entreat
Wilhelm I of Prussia to reduce the war contribution imposed on the city of Rouen. Under the republican government he uniformly opposed the laws and measures passed against religious congregations and their schools, but endeavored to inspire his clergy to deference and conciliation in their relations with the civil authorities. His best known work is "Introduction a la philosophie du Christianisme" (1835), two octavo volumes. ==References==