MERMILLOD, GASPARD. - Cardinal, b. at Carouge (diocese of Geneva) on 22 Sept. 1824, d. at Rome on 23 Feb. 1892. Ordained a priest in 1847, he was curate at the parish of St. Germain in Geneva. In the canton of Geneva, where Calvinist intolerance and radicalism dominated unchallenged, M. became a determined champion and defender of the rights of Catholics. In 1848 he protested indignantly against the expulsion of Bishop Marilley.
With the support of French and Piedmontese Catholics urged on by his preaching, he succeeded in 1857 in opening in Geneva, where the 20,000 Catholics were gathered in a single parish, the new church of Our Lady, and he was its first parish priest. To combat Calvinist rationalism he founded the Annales catholiques. Appointed titular bishop of Hebron, he was given the governance of all the Catholics of the canton of Geneva; but this, which was to have been the first step toward the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in Switzerland, had no sequel because of the worsening of Protestant intolerance. Indeed, from 1870 onward the oppression of Catholics intensified because of the cantonal authority's claim to impose upon them the constitution of a national Church (1872). M.'s appointment as bishop was deemed illegal and he was ordered to renounce it. Since M. did not consent, on 17 Feb. 1873 he was expelled from the canton and forced to settle at Monthon near the border (cf. on these events G. Goyau, Une ville église: Genève, II, 3rd ed., Paris 1919, p. 149 ff.).
In 1881 he received from Leo XIII the task of visiting the Catholic churches in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. A consultor of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in 1882, he was appointed the following year bishop of Geneva and Lausanne and created a cardinal of the curia in 1890.
Bibliography5 worksBesides the works already cited in the text, cf. A. Merli, Origine delle trine a filo di refe, Genoa 1864; B. Palliser, A History of lace, L
BIBL.: Besides the works already cited in the text, cf. A. Merli, Origine delle trine a filo di refe, Genoa 1864; B. Palliser, A History of lace, London 1865; another ed. edited by J. A. Dryden, ibid. 1902; G. Romanelli Marone, Trine a fuselli in Italia, Milan 1910; E. Ricci, s. v. in Enc. Ital., XXII, pp. 910-917.
Mortari, Luisa. “Mermillod, gaspard.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, col. 731. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/mermillod-gaspard.
MLA
Mortari, Luisa. “Mermillod, gaspard.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, col. 731. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/mermillod-gaspard.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec8_mermillod_gaspard,
author = {Mortari, Luisa},
title = {Mermillod, gaspard},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VIII},
pages = {731},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1952},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mermillod-gaspard}
}
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