Which bishop celebrated mass at the Fête de la Fédération?

Talleyrand celebrated mass at the Fête de la Fédération on 14 July 1790. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was then the bishop of Autun, making him the senior churchman associated with the ceremony at the Champ de Mars.

The festival marked the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille while presenting an image of national reconciliation. Talleyrand celebrated the mass at the Altar of the Nation before a huge crowd, after which Lafayette, the National Guard, deputies, and Louis XVI swore oaths to the nation, the law, and the king.

A common mix-up is to identify Lafayette as the religious officiant. He was the commander of the Paris National Guard and a central political figure at the ceremony, but he did not celebrate the mass. Talleyrand’s later career also complicates his image: he became a revolutionary politician, diplomat, and imperial statesman, despite having begun the Revolution as a Catholic bishop.