Paul Smith

1853

Félix Arsène Billard Ordained a Priest.

1858

Billard becomes the Curate of Saint-Rémy de Dieppe, later officiating at Saint-Patrice and at the primatial church in Rouen.

1868

Billard Rector of Caudebec-lès-Elbeuf.

1877

Became a titular canon in Rouen on 1 January 1877; later becoming vicar-general, and accompanied Cardinal de Bonnechose to Rome during the conclave of 1878, at which Pope Leo XIII was elected.

1881

Appointed as the Bishop of Carcassonne. Gained a reputation as being a defender of the freedom of the clergy against Republican pressures, founding free schools and attracting to his diocese the Little Sisters of the Poor (in November 1883).

1886

Played an important role in the restoration of the monastery of Prouille, laying the first stone of its basilica. This led to Mgr Billard being known as the 'Bishop of the Rosary', because Prouille has a Church of the Rosary. This is a reference, no doubt, to Pope Leo XIII, who was known as the 'Pope of the Rosary', due to his numerous Encyclicals on the Holy Virgin.

1886

Wrote Pastoral Letter (Mandamus Nr. 33) "To the Clergy and Faithful of his Diocese, Bearing upon the Encyclical Humanum Genus of his Holiness Pope Leo XIII, Relating to Freemasonry".

1889

On an episcopal visit to Rennes-le-Château, Mgr Billard congratulated the curé of Rennes on everything he had done, consoling him, and encouraging him, in spite of all the difficulties that he had encountered, to try and continue his pastoral ministry.

1891

Death of Madame Rose Denise Marguerite Victorine Sabatier in Coursan, who bequeathed to Mgr Billard - not in his capacity as a Bishop, but in his own private person - a substantial sum of money (some 1,200,000 Francs). Her family unsuccessfully contested the validity of the will.

1893

Billard purchases the church of Notre Dame de Marceille, outside Limoux.

1897

Billard consecrates the newly renovated and re-decorated church of Rennes-le-Château, in the company of a Lazarist priest from the Church of Notre-Dame de Marceille, R.P. Mercier, on 6th June. (The priest of Rennes-le-Château had previously in 1891 opened a shrine to Lourdes in the village involving another Lazarist priest from the church of Notre Dame de Marceille.)

1898

Billard struck down by paralysis.

1901

Billard died, whilst in the process of being suspended for 'having administered the assets of his diocese in the most irregular fashion and for having contracted staggering debts, which were completely unjustified’ (Laborde).

1902

‘Biographical notice on Monsignor Billard, late Bishop of Carcassonne’, by the Curé Simon Laborde; criticising Billard's piety and political beliefs, questioning Billard's methods of administering his diocese and accusing him of financial irregularities.