CALONNE, JACQUES-LADISLAS-JOSEPH DE, Roman Catholic priest; b. 9
April 1743 in Douai, France, son of Louis-Joseph-Dominique de
Calonne and Anne-Henriette de Franqueville; d. 16 Oct. 1822 in
Trois-Rivières, Lower Canada. In the 15th century the Calonnes
were still an ordinary bourgeois family of limited means living
in Tournai (Belgium). Through their interest in the law and the
church, they began to rise in society. The titles of squire and
knight appear successively within the family during the 17th
century. Jacques-Ladislas-Joseph had a pampered childhood and a
happy adolescence. In 1768, having finished classical studies
and a law course, he became a counsellor in the parlement of
Flanders, where his father served as president and his brother
Charles-Alexandre also held a position. The parlements were
abolished in 1771 and although they were revived in 1774,
Jacques-Ladislas-Joseph had in the mean time decided to enter
the Grand Séminaire d’Arras, in France. The bishop of Arras did
not think him well suite