MARILLEY, ETIENNE. - Prelate, b. 29 Oct. 1804 at Châtel-St-Denis (diocese of Lausanne), d. 17 Jan. 1889. Ordained priest in 1831, director of the diocesan Seminary of Geneva in 1835, he was appointed archpriest of Geneva in 1843. His appointment was not approved by the cantonal government. Expelled from the canton in 1844, he settled in Fribourg, where
the following year he became coadjutor to Msgr Jenni, incumbent of that diocese.
Upon the latter’s death, in Jan. 1846, he became bishop of Geneva-Lausanne, with his seat at Fribourg. In 1848 a violent conflict arose between M. and the five cantons (Fribourg, Geneva, Vaud, Bern, Neuchâtel) over which his jurisdiction extended. Having opposed the placet and the oath required by the state authorities, the bishop was arrested, imprisoned, and deposed by the cantonal authorities. Having settled at Divonne, he returned to Fribourg in 1856. A promoter of the meetings of the Swiss bishops, he resigned the government of his see in 1879. In 1883 Leo XIII appointed him titular archbishop of Myra.