Skip to content
Curated category

French Roman Catholics

  • Paul CézannePaul Cézanne was born on the 19th of January 1839 at 28 rue de l'Opéra in Aix-en-Provence. His father Louis-Auguste Cézanne co-founded a banking firm called…
  • NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica on the 15th of August 1769 to Carlo Maria Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino.
  • Claude of FranceClaude arrived in the world on the 13th of October 1499 inside the town of Romorantin-Lanthenay. Her mother Duchess Anne of Brittany had invoked a saint…
  • Charles BaudelaireOn the 10th of February 1827, Joseph-François Baudelaire died at rue Hautefeuille in Paris. The death left his nine-year-old son Charles without a father and…
  • MontesquieuCharles Louis de Secondat entered the world on the 18th of January 1689 at the Château de la Brède. This estate sat south of Bordeaux in southwest France.
  • Jean RacineJean-Baptiste Racine was born on the 21st of December 1639 in La Ferté-Milon. This small town sat within the province of Picardy in northern France.
  • Napoleon IIICharles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Paris on the night of 19 to the 20th of April 1808. His father Louis ruled Holland from 1806 until 1810.
  • Louis XVIIILouis Stanislas Xavier entered the world on the 17th of November 1755 inside the Palace of Versailles. He was a younger son of Louis Ferdinand, Dauphin of…
  • Francis I of FranceFrancis I of France was born on the 12th of September 1494 at the Château de Cognac, a man whose physical features would become as legendary as his political…
  • Francis II of FranceOn the 10th of July 1559, a fifteen-year-old boy named Francis II became king of France after his father Henry II died in a jousting accident.
  • Philip II of FrancePhilip was born in Gonesse on the 21st of August 1165, the son of Louis VII and Adela of Champagne. He received the nickname Dieudonné because he arrived…
  • Charles de GaulleCharles de Gaulle was born on the 22nd of November 1890 in the northern French city of Lille. He entered the military academy at Saint-Cyr in October 1910…
  • Jacques OffenbachOn the 20th of June 1819, a boy named Jacob Offenbach was born in the German city of Cologne. He entered the world as the second son and seventh child of…
  • Henry II of FranceHenry and his elder brother Francis spent over four years in captivity in Spain as hostages. This arrangement secured the release of their father, King…
  • Tony ParkerWilliam Anthony Parker Jr. arrived in the world on the 17th of May 1982, inside a hospital in Bruges, Belgium. His father Tony Parker Sr.
  • Louis BonaparteLouis Bonaparte entered the world on the 2nd of September 1778 in Ajaccio, Corsica. This island had been conquered by France less than a decade before his…
  • Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici was born on the 13th of April 1519 in Florence, Republic of Florence. Her parents were Lorenzo de' Medici and Madeleine de La Tour…
  • Marguerite de NavarreMarguerite de Navarre entered the world on the 11th of April 1492 in Angoulême, France. Her mother Louise of Savoy was only nineteen years old when she…
  • Louis PasteurLouis Pasteur was born on the 27th of December 1822 in Dole, Jura, France. He entered primary school in 1831 and struggled with dyslexia and dysgraphia…
  • Jean CocteauJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was born in Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines, on the 5th of July 1889. His father Georges died by suicide when Jean was nine…
  • Joachim MuratJoachim Murat was born on the 25th of March 1767 in La Bastide-Fortunière, a small village in southwestern France. His father Pierre Murat-Jordy worked as an…
  • Joseph BonaparteGiuseppe di Buonaparte entered the world on the 7th of January 1768 in Corte, the capital of the Corsican Republic. His parents were Carlo Buonaparte and…
  • Joséphine de BeauharnaisMarie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie entered the world on the 23rd of June 1763, though historians still argue over whether she arrived in Les…
  • Jules RimetJules Rimet was born on the 14th of October 1873 in Theuley, a small commune in eastern France. His father worked as a grocer and the family moved to Paris…
  • Antoine LavoisierAntoine-Laurent de Lavoisier was born on the 26th of August 1743 to a wealthy family of nobility in Paris. He inherited a large fortune at the age of five…
  • Robert BressonRobert Bresson was born on the 25th of September 1901 in Bromont-Lamothe, France. He grew up in a quiet region known as Puy-de-Dôme before moving to Paris…
  • Napoleon IINapoleon II entered the world on the 20th of March 1811 inside the Tuileries Palace in Paris. His father was Emperor Napoleon I and his mother was Empress…
  • Louis AlthusserLouis Pierre Althusser was born on the 16th of October 1918 in Birmendreïs, a small town near Algiers in French Algeria.
  • Carlo BuonaparteGuglielmo di Buonaparte served on Florence's Ghibelline-controlled municipal council during the 13th century. When the rival Guelphs faction seized power…
  • Louis Philippe ILouis Philippe was born in the Palais-Royal on the 6th of October 1773. He grew up as a Prince of the Blood within the House of Bourbon.
  • Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville entered the world on the 29th of July 1805. He descended from an old Norman family that had produced…
  • Gabriel MarcelGabriel Honoré Marcel entered the world on the 7th of December 1889 in Paris, France. His mother Laure Meyer was Jewish and died when he was very young.
  • Éric RohmerJean Marie Maurice Schérer was born on the 21st of March 1920 in Nancy, France. He adopted the pseudonym Éric Rohmer from two famous artists: Erich von…
  • Désirée ClaryDésirée Clary entered the world on the 8th of November 1777 in Marseille, France. Her father François Clary operated a wealthy silk manufacturing business…
  • Georges Ernest BoulangerGeorges Ernest Boulanger was born on the 29th of April 1837 in Rennes, Brittany. He entered the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in 1855 and graduated to join the…
  • Jean-Jacques-Régis de CambacérèsJean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès entered the world on the 18th of October 1753 in Montpellier. He was born into a family of legal nobility, though his…
  • Gustave DoréOn the 6th of January 1832, Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré was born in Strasbourg. At age fifteen, he began working as a caricaturist for Le journal pour…
  • Lucien BonaparteLucien Bonaparte entered the world in Ajaccio, Corsica, on the 21st of May 1775. He was the third surviving son of Carlo Bonaparte and Letizia Ramolino.
  • Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PérigordCharles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord entered the world on the 2nd of February 1754 in Paris. He was born into an ancient aristocratic family that lacked…
  • Arsène WengerArsène Charles Ernest Wenger was born on the 22nd of October 1949 in Strasbourg, the youngest of three children. His father Alphonse managed a local village…