ROSE AGNÈS FOURTICOT (1779-1847)
Rose Agnès, Cardinal Lavigerie’s grandmother, was born in Pau on January 21, 1779, in her parents’ home on “rue Nationale” (today rue de maréchal Joffre). She was baptised the same day at the nearby church of Saint-Martin, which was the town’s only church until 1803.
Her father, Pierre Fourticot (1734-1797), was born in Gan (1), and his death certificate of April 3, 1797, reads: “He was an apothecary, who died at three o’clock in the morning, in his home, rue Nationale…”. (2)
A year after the birth of Rose-Agnès, one of his neighbours, Jean Bernadotte joined King Louis XVI’s army. He became King of Sweden in 1818, and his house in rue Tran became a museum; as for Rose-Agnès, she spent her youth in this city during the French Revolution. (3)
She married Pierre (Aîné) Latrilhe (1746-1847) on September 8, 1798, and moved to Huire, in the parish of Saint-Esprit, which at the time wasn’t part of Bayonne but instead belonged to the diocese of Aire-et-Dax in the Landes region. She was the mother of Louise Hermine Latrilhe (1800-1854), mother of Cardinal Lavigerie. She died on December 27, 1847, two years before her grandson Charles was ordained to the priesthood. She now lies beside her daughter, Louise Hermine, in the same cemetery in Bayonne.
(1) In 1949, the winegrowers of Gan created the Jurançon winery, a wine already appreciated by King Henri IV, who was also born in Pau.
(2) “apothicaire” (apothecary) In 1777, a royal decree replaced the name with “pharmacien” (pharmacist), but Paris was a long way off…
(3) The Place Royale near her home once had a statue of King Louis XIV, which was destroyed by the revolutionaries in 1793. King Louis Philippe arranged for the present-day statue of King Henri IV to be made in 1843.
January 21, 2025, the feast of Sainte Agnès
By: Georges Paquet, M.Afr.