GIBIER, CHARLES-CÉLESTIN. - Bishop of Versailles, b. in Artenay on 25 Dec. 1849, d. at Versailles on 3 Apr. 1931. The son of peasants, he entered the Seminary of Orléans at the age of fourteen and was ordained in 1873. Parish priest of St. Paterno in Orléans in 1888, he became known for singular proofs of zeal in the pastoral ministry, giving life and impetus to a great many works, so that he can be considered a precursor of Catholic Action.
Elected in 1906 bishop of Versailles at the time of the Combes laws and of the rupture of relations between the Holy See and France, he was one of the French bishops consecrated in Rome by Pius X. As prelate he intensified his religious and social activity with impressive results: 34 new churches, 4 seminaries founded and restored, parish halls, patronages, schools; he took special care for farmers, founding: the Union catholique de la France agricole (1917), the Oeuvre de l'adoption des petites paroisses rurales (1920); and the newspaper La Croix de Seine et Oise (1927). He showed especially quite particular solicitude for the work of priestly vocations, gathering excellent results.
He published various highly successful series of conferences: Conférences aux hommes (16 vols., Paris 1907-1911) on religion, God, Jesus Christ, the Church, the family and society; Les devoirs de l'heure présente (10 vols., ibid. 1912-17); Les temps nouveaux (9 vols., ibid. 1918-22).
Bibliography
Renzo U. Montini