GERBET, PHILIPPE. - Controversialist, born at Poligny on 5 Feb. 1798, died at Perpignano on 8 Aug. 1864. In Paris he formed a friendship with Lamennais, of whom he became a fervent admirer, disseminating his thought from the chair and through his writings: Des doctrines philosophiques sur la certitude dans leurs rapports avec les fondements de la théologie (Paris 1826); Coup d'œil sur la controverse chrétienne depuis les premiers siècles jusqu'à nos jours (ibid. 1828); Sommaire d'un système des connaissances humaines, published the following year.
When, however, in 1834 Lamennais’s doctrines were condemned, G. abandoned his master and indeed wrote against him in Précis de l'histoire de philosophie (ibid. 1834). From 1839 to ’49 he was in Rome. The fruit of this sojourn was the work in 2 vols., Esquisse de Rome chrétienne (ibid. 1844-50). Having returned to France, he was vicar general at Amiens, and in 1854 became bishop of Perpignano. Of his episcopal activity, the most important was the Instruction pastorale
sur les diverses erreurs du temps présent of 23 July 1860, which earned the praise of Pio IX and served as the basis for the commission charged with drafting the Syllabus. Also belonging to his scholarly activity are: Livre de sainte Théodosie (Amiens 1854); Conférence sur Rome (Perpignano 1863); La stratégie de M. Renan, published posthumously in Paris in 1866. Better known than all the others, however, is his little devotional work on the Eucharist: Considérations sur le dogme générateur de la piété catholique (Paris 1829).