Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

We're back with someone who, unlike JFK, wielded power both political and religious: Pierre Guérin de Tencin, who died on this day in 1758. He went to Rome to assist a cardinal during the election of Innocent XIII, and stayed on for several years as the French representative to the Vatican. During this time he was made a cardinal, and was given the see of Lyons in 1740, two years before becoming French minister of state. He'd retire to his diocese in 1752.

Part of the reason for his retirement, and a certain curb on his power generall, was his sister Claudine. A former nun, Claudine would form a literary circle and become a novelist in her own right, but prior to that she was a courtesan whose influence in political affairs initiall helped her brother, but would ultimately hurt it given her affairs, whose results included an illegitimate son and a suicide of a former lover. I can't imagine there were a lot of family reunions.