, the
Saint-Jean district.
Childhood, studies and early career Louis Maurice Dubourg was born on August 8, 1878 in
Besançon (
Doubs). In the autumn of 1882, little Dubourg entered the Institution Sainte-Marie in the Saint-Jean district of the Comtois capital; still wearing the infant dress, he was then four years old. Here, now known as the Collège Saint-Jean, the future archbishop studied for his baccalaureate in philosophy. The young Dubourg then attended the Faculty (or School) of Law in
Besançon. In
Paris, he continued his studies as a student and trainee at the Conférence des avocats. he was also active in the
Sillon, the political and ideological movement of journalist and politician
Marc Sangnier, which sought to bring Catholics closer to the Republic and free workers from the influence of the anticlerical left. Dubourg was also a member of a
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul conference, where he helped poor families of Comtois exiled to Paris. and began his career in Vesoul as curate.
Military mobilization During the
First World War, Abbé Dubourg was an officer, military chaplain and stretcher-bearer. According to General Medical Officer Fourgereau, "courageous he certainly was; at times, he even seemed reckless... But no, M. l'Aumônier was not. l'Aumônier was not reckless; he was in charge of a service whose importance and complexity frightened me... But if Abbé Dubourg was courageous, with a calm simplicity, he was also courageous with a chic that was universally admired, and this chic was due above all to his legendary smile, which he never lost in any circumstance, however tragic". where he worked alone with Abbé Gaillard. From 1919 to 1928, he was the reorganizer of the Ligue Féminine and the director and active rallying agent of the "Union des Catholiques du Diocèse", During the same period, with Canon Dubourg multiplying groups, training chaplains and inspiring young personalities, youth movements resumed their activities (from 1919): the "Thom", the brilliant Union Comtoise and above all the
Association catholique de la jeunesse française (A.C.J.F.). Within the Œuvres diocésaines, the "Comité régional" operated, with an average age of twenty. It has 3,500 subscribers. He was consecrated bishop on February 25, 1929 by Cardinal Charles-Henri-Joseph Binet, Archbishop of
Besançon, and Paul Rémond, (later known as the Villa Episcopale), to the Besançon archdiocese for use as a retreat center. Thanks to NNSS Béjot and Pourchet (future bishop of Saint-Flour), the villa would host groups from Jeunesse étudiante chrétienne, Catholic Action, priestly retreats, school retreats. The new bishop's first ministry, lasting eight years, was marked by the crowning of the statue of
Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde in 1931 and the great Catholic Exhibition of 1935. In 1937, Dubourg welcomed German veterans from
Freiburg im Breisgau, who had been invited to Besançon, to the cathedral.
The Second World War The city of Besançon was occupied by the German National Socialist army on June 16, 1940; Dubourg expressed himself in two notes: the first, which he read in the church of Saint-Pierre on Sunday June 23, 1940, the second on June 27, 1940: "Let us say it loud and clear, it is a betrayal of the fatherland and honor to welcome as friends those who come to us, no matter how correct they may be, with the sole right of force. Let's give them what we can't refuse them: that's the law of war. Let us be correct, but not servile. Even more so, no smiles of complacency, no familiarity. Let us remain dignified... The war is not over. And no one knows what the future holds". These statements led to the seizure by the German occupiers of the
Semaine Religieuse, which had published these texts, and to the ten-day detention of Vicar General Galland at the Kommandantur headquarters, where he was held responsible. Dubourg felt that Marshal
Philippe Pétain's government was legitimate, even after the landings of 1942. For months, every first Friday at 7 a.m., Dubourg received a group of men at his home to study the situation and the behavior the French should adopt. He wished to "remove the confusion in which certain minds currently find themselves, worried about the course of events and reluctant to follow the Head of State down the path he has embarked upon... ". and Chanoine Rémillet, parish priest of
Sainte-Madeleine church, he saved the synagogue's scrolls of the Law from destruction. They hid the precious documents in the latter's workroom until the Liberation Their courageous action was hailed as a gesture of brotherhood on the occasion of the synagogue's 125th anniversary. They also deplored "the harshness of requisitions, but have no doubt that severe measures will be taken to avoid similar sadness". He therefore proposed that the Assembly of Cardinals and Archbishops write a "letter of encouragement to the faithful at the beginning of 1943, which would be particularly well received. He led pilgrims to the
Notre-Dame des Bois chapel, as they climbed the Bisontine hill barefoot. And on June 17, 1944: "I believe with the Church and with all its sons, so numerous in this assembly, that a nation can only live, prosper and last if it respects God and observes his commandments. God must have his place with us, the first place in our souls, in our homes, in our institutions. He is the irreplaceable foundation of morality. I believe with the Church that all authority comes from God, both temporal and spiritual. We owe the leaders who have the honor and responsibility of governing the country respect and submission, and it's our duty to pray for them. It may please many to hear these truths repeated today. I asserted them at a time when it might have displeased some. You see, principles are principles. And the Church must teach them in season and out of season, without any quest for popularity, with the sole concern of the truth. (...) Soon, we hope, we'll put an end to war, that infernal crusher of bodies. Let's not enslave souls, suffocate them in matter. (...)". At the Liberation, Dubourg was instructed to recite the following prayer to Notre-Dame: "Reine de France, rendez nous la paix, et, dans la concorde, réunies les Français". He decided to continue the public Corpus Christi processions that had resumed during the war. This initiative was sanctioned by a lawsuit that was annulled by the Conseil d'État. After Father Florin Callerand's ordination on June 21, 1946, Dubourg chose him as his secretary, and later as his confessor. On this occasion, he was surrounded by a large number of intellectual and business notables,
Besançon clergy and friends of free education, many of whom had come from afar. This was the case for the blessing of the foundation stone in 1945 and the inauguration of the votive monument to Notre-Dame de la Libération on September 8, 1949, which drew 50,000 people, (in 1942), le Sacré-Cœur d'Audincourt, Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Belfort, Montreux-Château, Sainte-Suzanne, Tavey, etc. The Franciscan scholasticate planned for
Notre-Dame des Bois in 1945 never came to fruition. He then appointed his former secretary, Father Florin Callerand, director of the Villa Saint-Charles de Gouille, and sent him to Châteauneuf-de-Galaure to meet Marthe Robin. Under Dubourg's pontificate, diocesan organizations became very active. In 1947, the non-figurative painter
Alfred Manessier was commissioned for the stained-glass windows at
Les Bréseux; in 1950, the cubist Fernand Léger was commissioned for the stained-glass windows, and the avant-garde Jean Bazaine for the mosaic at the Sacré-Cœur church in Audincourt; in the same year, the non-figurative painter Jean Le Moal was commissioned to paint the Maîche church; and in 1950, the architect Le Corbusier was commissioned to rebuild the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut on the Bourlémont hilltop in Ronchamp. Dubourg showed his solidarity with the decisions taken, and accepted them, even if he did not always understand the innovative works himself: "Not that I endorse all the conclusions of our commission. It's one thing to authorize the execution of a work, it's quite another to approve it as a perfect work, beyond criticism". In 1955, the Holy Office demanded the removal of the Way of the Cross created by sculptor Gabriel Saury from the church in Orchamps-Vennes. The Commission would no longer be able to produce major works. In Belfort and Montbéliard, we can speak of popular ecumenism, born of the personalities of Abbé Jean Flory and Pastor Marchand, and of joint Catholic-Protestant actions during the Resistance. Between 1956 and 1960, the Besançon archdiocese saw only 112 priestly ordinations, leading Dubourg to warn the faithful of the risks this trend could entail if confirmed. It's true that religious congregations inaugurated annual diocesan congresses in 1952, with between three and five hundred participants. Although the planned procession through the streets of Besançon could not take place due to the exceptionally bitter cold, his death was greeted by a "triumphal funeral": In attendance were two cardinals, NNSS Feltin and Gerlier, respectively archbishops of Paris and Lyon, some twenty bishops, the Minister of Veterans and Victims of War, André Mutter, who had flown in (he had placed the tie of ''Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur'' on the coffin), a dozen members of parliament, a general, two prefects, countless mayors, and over a thousand priests and religious. Georges Béjot conducted the mourning, with two clerics and four laymen (Messrs Georges Pernot, Saglio, Regani and Faivre) holding the cords. His death marked the end of an era for
Catholicism in
Franche-Comté, as well as for the Catholic Church in France. Dubourg's body rests in the votive monument of Notre-Dame de la Libération. The inscription at the foot of the statue reads: "1878 - 1954. Ici repose s. Maurice Dubourg, Archbishop of Besançon". == Notre-Dame de la Libération ==