VERDIER, JEAN. - Cardinal, b. in La Croix-Barrez (diocese of Rodez) on 19 Feb. 1864, d. in Paris on 9 Apr. 1940.
Having entered the Society of St. Sulpice in 1886, he came the following year to Rome and there obtained his doctorate in theology and canon law. Ordained a priest on 9 Apr. 1887, he was sent to the Grand Seminary of Périgueux and there taught philosophy. Transferred to Lyon, he was rector of that Seminary in 1898. Then from 1905 he settled in Paris and held the chair of moral theology at the Seminary of St. Sulpice. As a result of the separation laws V. and his confreres were forced to abandon the old building on Place St. Sulpice. V., having meanwhile become director, that is, effective superior under the control of the superior general, personally presided over the settling of the Seminary in the new house on Rue de Regard. Having assumed in 1912 the direction of the Grand Seminary des Carmes, in 1910 he also taught moral theology at the Institut catholique.
A theologian, professor and spiritual director, he had a clear vision of the needs and opportunities of contemporary Catholic life and dealt with insight into the various problems of his time, with particular regard to social questions. Vice superior general of St. Sulpice in 1926, he was elected superior general on 16 July 1929. A few months later, on 18 Nov. 1929, Pius XI appointed him archbishop of Paris and on 16 Dec. of the same year created him cardinal of the title of St. Balbina. In that capacity he energetically promoted the methodical organization of French Catholic Action. He strengthened Catholic sentiment in the country and with his "building sites of the Cardinal" initiated the construction of churches in the outskirts of Paris, with the aim both of contributing to an active missionary work in the banlieue and of partly alleviating the difficult economic conditions of unemployed workers. An effective speaker and writer, he collaborated with the Revue pratique d'apologétique and published several works, among which are remembered: Le problème de la natalité et la morale chrétienne (1917); Y a-t-il un droit de grève? (1923); La question scolaire (1934); Petit manuel des questions contemporaines (1937); Problèmes sociaux, réponses chrétiennes (1939).
Bibliography5 works
Silvio Furlani