 He was consecrated on 21 December 1599 at St. Germain des Près, Paris, by Cardinal François de Joyeuse, archbishop of Toulouse, and received the cardinal's hat almost exactly one year later (20 December 1600).In Bordeaux, de Sourdis embarked on a number of urban improvements such as draining swampy areas of the city, renovating the medieval Archbishop's Palace, ordering enhancements to the chapel of Saint Michael's Basilica, and building the Cloister of the Cordeliers in the town of Saint-André-de-Cubzac (which today houses the local public library) and the church of Saint-Bruno of Bordeaux (1611-1620).In 1603 de Sourdis welcomed Reverend Dermit MacCarthy, a priest of the Diocese of Cork, and forty companions, who formed the core of the new Irish College at the University of Bordeaux.