Born, 1742; died, 1822. Ordained priest at Toulouse and joined
the Congregation _de la Doctrine Chrétienne_.
In 1784, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who intended to open an asylum
and school for the deaf and dumb in his cathedral town, sent the Abbé
Sicard to Paris, that he might study the method of instructing deaf
mutes invented by the Abbé l’Epée. He returned to Bordeaux two years
later, and the school was immediately opened, the Abbé Sicard proving
extraordinarily successful, many of his pupils making rapid and even
astonishing progress. The Abbé l’Epée died in 1789, and Sicard was
appointed to succeed him in Paris.
Sicard adopted the principles of the Revolution, and although he did
not take the civil or constitutional clerical oath, he took that of
fidelity to liberty, equality and fraternity. On August 26, 1792, he
was arrested as a suspect; his pupils addressed a touching petition to
the Assembly in favour of their master, but it was disregarded, and on
September 2 he was conveyed with other priests to the Abbaye. Nearly
all of his companions were slaughtered as soon as they reached the
prison, but Sicard’s life was saved by a watchmaker, Mounet. Sicard
remained for some time in prison expecting immediate death, but was
eventually liberated and returned to his Institution.
When the “Institute” was created in 1795, he was one of its first
members, but writing some offensive articles in a publication entitled
_Les Annales Réligieuses_, he was arrested and condemned to
transportation; he escaped this fate, but was not replaced in his
functions at the deaf and dumb asylum until after the 18th Brumaire,
1799. He found an ardent protector in Choptal, the Minister of the
Interior, who caused a printing press to be erected, at the Abbé’s
request, at the Institution.
For some unknown reason Napoleon always detested the Abbé Sicard, and
refused to ratify his appointment as Canon at Nôtre Dame; nor would
he give him the legion of honour; but he was more fortunate under the
Restoration, when he received the coveted decoration, a canonry, and
other honourable and well-paid appointments.
Abbé Sicard wrote a number of books on the deaf and dumb, and even some
for their use.