MERSCH, ÉMILE. - Jesuit theologian, b. July 30, 1890 at Marche (Belgian Luxembourg), d. May 23, 1940 at Lens (France). In 1920 he became professor of philosophy at Namur and remained there until 1935. This teaching, though contrary to his inclinations, was carried out with commitment; its fruit is the interesting volume L'obligation morale principe de liberté (Louvain 1927) and several articles.
Already as a student he had conceived a vast theological synthesis in the light of the Mystical Body: his whole life was directed toward the realization of this project; after a decade of scrupulous research (he followed the rigorous method of Fr. De Ghellinck) he had ready the work that was to procure him wide fame: Le corps mystique de Christ, Etudes de théologie historique (2 vols., Louvain 1933), which had a 2nd ed. in 1936 and an English translation in the United States (Milwaukee 1938); with extraordinary erudition he outlines in it the historical-doctrinal development of the Mystical Body, from the first hints of the Old Testament to the latest expressions of the ecclesiastical magisterium. To these volumes is due, in large part, the present fervor of positive research on the subject. But this work was only a stage toward the goal: he reached it through personal meditations, which are reflected in many ingenious articles published in the Nouvelle revue théologique and elsewhere. Struck down in the exercise of priestly charity, during an air bombardment, he showed that he had lived what he taught in the posthumous work La théologie du corps mystique (2 vols., Louvain 1946), which impresses on the valiant author the unmistakable character of theologian of the Mystical Body. One may dissent at some points from M.'s positions, but one cannot disregard this powerful synthesis, which is a new sign of the vitality of Catholic theology.
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Antonio Piolanti