MERCIER, DÉSIRÉ. - Philosopher, founder of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Louvain, cardinal and primate of Belgium, born at Braine-l'Alleud in Walloon Brabant on 21 November 1851, died at Malines on 23 January 1926. Ordained priest on 5 April 1874 by the apostolic nuncio Monsignor Cattani, he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Louvain.
Direct contact with modern philosophical currents and the sciences, open discussions with professors, and above all the inner struggle of personal reflection gradually oriented his thought. He appears to have been decisively influenced at first by the teaching of A. KLEUTGEN, JOSEPH (v.) TONGIORGI, SALVATORE (v.). By the end of his university curriculum he had substantially matured his convictions. After obtaining his degree, he moved to the Petit Séminaire as professor of logic and metaphysics. It was the year 1877, two years before Aeterni Patris, and it is known that Mercier’s teaching was already in line with the future encyclical. Thus, when Leo XIII asked the Belgian episcopate to establish a Thomistic chair of philosophy at the University of Louvain, Cardinal Dechamps decided to entrust this position to Mercier, who accepted II. Having first gone to Rome, Mercier explained his program regarding Catholic universities to Leo XIII, declaring: «Holy Father, as far as the beginning of my professional career is concerned, I believe I can answer yes; in any case, I answer you energetically in the affirmative for the present and for the future.» Biographers note with satisfaction that Mercier was the man capable of understanding Leo XIII, and that Leo XIII was the Pope capable of understanding Mercier. From that time onward, a relationship of trust and mutual understanding developed between the two, which gave rise to the Institut de Philosophie and its philosophical, historical, and scientific tradition.
In the academic year 1882–83, the course began, and university students flocked to it in ever greater numbers, as did the professors themselves. Thus, from the earliest years, Mercier’s work took shape as an authentic success. The plan, agreed upon with Leo XIII, was progressively realized. «To form as many men as possible who dedicate themselves to science for its own sake and who work firsthand...; to create the resources that this work requires—these are the twofold aims of those concerned with the prestige of the Church in the world» (Report on Advanced Philosophical Studies), presented at the Congress of Malines on 9 September 1891. Not content with university contacts, Mercier opened his Bureau on Rue des Flamands. Through these conversations and meetings, a group of loyal friends and disciples gathered around him. Leo XIII followed and encouraged further developments. A brief of 7 July 1888 expressed the hope for an increase in chairs and the foundation of a philosophy institute; another brief of 8 November 1889 approved its beginning. Finally, the brief of 7 March 1894 defined the juridical position of the Institute within the University and mentioned a papal grant of 150,000 francs.
In the same year, the Revue néoscolastique de philosophie began publication under the auspices of the Société philosophique de Louvain. The organization of the Institute did not slow down the philosophical output of its president. Mercier worked diligently on his Cours de philosophie, systematically inspired by Thomism yet open to the philosophical and scientific problems of the time. From this course emerged the Logique, which reached its definitive form in 1897; the Psychologie (1892); the Critériologie générale ou Théorie générale de la certitude (1899); and the Métaphysique générale ou Ontologie (1902). A lithographed summary exists for Cosmologie, as this treatise was later entrusted to D. Nys; lithographs also exist for Théodicée and Philosophie morale et droit naturel. The Critériologie générale (the special part was never published) is the most famous of Mercier’s works, also on account of the discussions it provoked regarding the Mercierian interpretation of the concept of truth and the initial state and methodical transition from the ideal to the real. It would be an injustice to this great Thomist thinker to reduce his thought to two or three theses, for the principal merit of the Critériologie was to have sparked an effective revival of critical studies in neo-scholastic circles, demonstrating how realistic gnoseology could hold its own against positivist and neo-Kantian currents. Another important work by Mercier is Les origines de la psychologie contemporaine (1st ed. 1897). All these works have seen multiple editions and translations into many languages.
If Mercier was unable to complete his Cours de philosophie, it was because, as the leader of a school, he had to become the spiritual leader of his people. Pius X, who had previously expressed his approval of the Institute’s activity, appointed him cardinal and primate of Belgium in 1906 when the see of Malines fell vacant. Thus, the Pope’s choice placed Mercier in a position to become one of the most eminent ecclesiastical figures of the first half of our century. He was able to see the generation he had formed rise to positions of power. During the war of 1914–18, the cardinal’s stature grew. His staunch defense of the rights of his people during the period of German occupation has passed into history, and biographers have documented it extensively. It suffices to note here that it concluded without a trace of bitterness on Mercier’s part and with loyal recognition from his former adversaries.
Mercier had a deeply pious soul, as can be seen in the works A mes séminaristes (1908–26) and Retraite pastorale (1910–26), addressed to his clergy (some elements of these works occasioned a controversy that was recently concluded by a discourse of the Holy Father on 8 December 1950 at the close of the Congress for the updating of religious). As a young seminarian, Mercier spent his holidays among Christian workers. He could not therefore fail to accept with enthusiasm the initiative of an «International Union of Social Studies» offered to him in 1921. He gathered sociologists from all the principal nations of Europe in his archiepiscopal palace and supported them in their work on the Codice sociale di Malines, published a year after his death. Another event associated with Mercier’s name is the Malines Conversations (begun 6–8 December 1921), which brought together Cardinal Mercier and Lord Halifax for a private study on the possible union of Anglicans with the Roman Church. Death overtook Mercier while a fifth meeting was imminent (v. MALINES, conversations of).
BIBL.:
(1939), pp. 303 ff.; J. Lenzinger, *El concepto católico de la vida según el card. M.*, 2nd ed., Madrid 1941; J. J. Harnett, *D. M. and the Neoscholastic Revival*, in *The New Scholasticism*, 18 (1944), pp. 303–39; J. de Bivort de la Saudée, *Anglicans et catholiques*, Paris 1949, passim; id., *Documents sur le problème de l’union anglo-romaine*, 1919, passim. Further indications in G. A. De Brie, *Bibliographia philosophica* 1934–45, I, Utrecht 1950, p. 535; *Rev. philos. de Louvain*, 1951, fasc. 4, devoted to M.; L. De Raeymaker, *Le cardinal M.*, Louvain 1952. FRANCESCO MORANDINI