Blessed Louis Aleman

Louis Aleman (c. February 1390 – 16 September 1450) was a French Roman Catholic cardinal and a professed member of the now-suppressed Canons Regular of Saint John Baptist. He served as the Archbishop of Arles from 1423 until his resignation in 1440 when he had resigned from the cardinalate. But he was later reinstated as a cardinal on 19 December 1449 at which point he served as the Protopriest and also reclaimed his titular church. Aleman served as the Bishop of Maguelonne from 1418 until his archepiscopal elevation at which point he was later named a cardinal. Aleman once led opposition to Pope Eugene IV while pledging allegiance to an antipope which led to Eugene IV stripping Aleman of all ecclesiastical dignities that he had been entitled to. But he later convinced the antipope to abdicate as a means of ending the Western Schism at which stage Aleman was restored to the cardinalate and returned to full communion with the Roman see under Pope Nicholas V. He has often been dubbed as the "Cardinal of Arles". His beatification received approval on 9 April 1527 from Pope Clement VII. Louis Aleman was born to nobles circa 1390 at the castle in Arbent to Jean Aleman and Marie de Châtillon de Michaille. His archbishop grand-uncle was François de Conzie (c.1356-31.12.1431/2). He was present at the Council of Pisa in 1409. He studied canon law and graduated in that area with a doctorate in 1414 at the college in Avignon. In 1417 he was made the abbot commendatario of Saint-Pierre de la Tour. Aleman served as the governor of the Romagna since 1424 and had to face the ongoing struggles between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines in Bologna. One of the Guelph families - the Canetols - even imprisoned Aleman for several weeks but Aleman was later released and moved to Rome to serve in the court of Pope Martin V. Aleman served as a noted advisor to the pope and also served as a courtier while in the papal court. He had served in the papal court for Martin V since July 1417.