EXTRACT from a "NOTE ON THE PARISH PRIESTS OF VIERVILLE-SUR-MER"
By Pierre Alexandre Le PAULMIER
Serving
(1752-1805-1824)
(Autobiography)
The Vierville branch having therefore vacant around the month of October 1804 M. the bishop appointed the said Sieur Pierre Alexandre Le PAULMIER and gave him the canonical institution on January 2, 1805...and he was not installed there until the following February 2nd.
He was from Bayeux, born in the parish of Saint Sauveur on February 20, 1752; he had been parish priest of Saint-Laurent of the said city in 1784. He exchanged this cure with that of Saint Martin de Bayeux in 1785 and remained there until 1790.
Mr. De Cheylus, bishop of Bayeux, having appointed him in January 1789 parish priest of Mesnil-au-Grain, deanery of Evrecy, he accepted this benefit and went to live there in July 1790; he served it only two years until September 1792, when he was forced to flee.
Having not taken the oath demanded by the Constituent Assembly and the deportation having been decreed against the sworn priests on August 26, 1792, the said Sieur Le PAULMIER, with a passport taken from the municipality of Bayeux, embarked in Courseulles on September 4 of the said year and went to the island of Guernsey where he stayed for ten months.
From there he went to England where he only stod, both in Winchester and in London for three months. In July 1793, he passed through the Austrian Netherlands, stayed there for a year, both in Ghent and in Harzedouhc (?), a village two leagues from Antwerp; pursued by the Republicans who had invaded this beautiful country, he was forced to abandon it in June 1794.
He retired to Holland and remained in a village called Rech three quarters of a league from the city of Grave, on the Meuse, in the Ravestein. He could only stay there for six weeks, the French army continuously making progress.
He took the side of retreating to a neutral country.
At the beginning of September 1794, he took the stagecoach to Nijmegen and on the 20th of that month, he had arrived in "Augsbourg", a free and imperial city in Swaba.
There, he was persuaded that the Emperor's "agents" would not let him pass through Tirol unless he had a passport from a minister of the Emperor. Having none, he decided to spend the winter in Augsburg, but the senators of this city, to save themselves the favor of the French Republic, thought they had to expel from their city 30 to 40 French priests who were there.
But the prince-bishop collected them and had them transported to Dillingen where he was the only master and where they were housed in the former residential school of the Jesuits, and fed at the expense of a subscription made in their favor by the Catholic clergy and the most notable citizens of Augsburg.
The said Sieur Le Paulmier only remained in this "asylum" until March 19, 1795. Armed with all the passports he could obtain, he left on the said day, accompanied by a religious from the Trappe, he went to Tyrol, where he experienced no difficulty, and crossing this mountainous country through Innsbruck, Brixen, Trento, Rovereto, he fortunately arrived in Verona on April 10, 1795.
He settled there and stayed there until September when he passed in Venice; ten days later he embarked on the Adriatic and
Landed in Ancona, from there to Lorette and from Lorette to Rome where he made his triumphant entry on October 17 of the said year 1795.
In Rome and the surrounding area, he stayed for three years, or so. In 1797 he wanted to return to France, but the case of 18 fructidor having gone wrong, he had to stay.
An envoy from the Pope to the Directory, to whom he had given some French language lessons, had him placed with the Augustines of Toccanella 17 leagues from Rome and twelve from Viterb, where he remained until September 1801.
At that time, France's affairs seemed to be settling and a convention between the Supreme Pontiff and the first Consul having been signed on July 15, 18019, he took the side of returning to France.
He first went to Florence where he stayed for almost two months during which he made some excursions to Pisa, to
Livorno, in Luques, in Pistoye. Finally, around the month of November he went to Lérici, embarked on the Gulf of Spézia and came to land in Genoa on November 10, 1801. He stayed there only seven days and having embarked on a felouque for Nice he fortunately boarded there on the 19th of that month, where having taken a car for Marseille he arrived there on the 30th.
Having crossed all of Provence by a completely ruined path, he stayed one month in Marseille, spent another three in "Boucq", three leagues from the said city on the road to Aix, with young ladies who had "a domestic chapel".
The good season having arrived, he left this charming place and passing through Avignon, Lyon, he arrived in Paris around the first days of May 1802. After seeing and visiting this big and beautiful city, he went to Rouen and from there to Caen where he arrived on May 15 or 16.
From there to Tierceville, canton of "Rie", near "Creully", at his brother's house.
The Concordat having been published and executed, he was appointed provisional servant of the church of Tierceville.
Having subsequently been erected as a branch, he was appointed servant and stayed there for only nine months.
Unhappy with this place, he gladly accepted that of Vierville which was vacant in January 1805, where he is still currently.
This is the story of this servant written by himself.
If, during his lifetime, something happens that deserves to be transmitted to posterity, he will make a note of it in the present
This April 1, 1813