Gaspard Mermillod
Gaspard Mermillod ( born September 22, 1824 in Carouge, † February 23, 1892 in Rome) was Bishop of Geneva and Lausanne and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Life
Gaspard Mermillod was the son of Jacques Mermillod ( baker and innkeeper ) and Pernette born Mégard. He studied in Chambery and Freiburg. After his ordination in 1847 he went to Geneva first vicar, priest later rector of the largest Catholic church of Notre -Dame.
In 1864 he was appointed by Pope Pius IX. ordained Titular Bishop of Hebron. He was auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Lausanne- Geneva with jurisdiction for the Canton of Geneva. This was the first time since the Reformation that a bishop resided in Geneva, and it was considered in the tense climate of the Kulturkampf as a first step towards establishing a diocese of Geneva. According to the Federal Constitution, the establishment of new dioceses needed but the approval of the State. As Mermillod was appointed on 16 January 1873 Apostolic Vicar, the Radical government of Kantones Geneva saw it as a violation of the constitutional provision and Mermillod was rejected from Switzerland on 17 February 1873. Mermillod settled in Fernex, where he headed the Geneva Roman Catholic Church.
Gaspard Mermillod 1883 Diocesan Bishop of Lausanne- Geneva. Pope Leo XIII. took him on 23 June 1890 as cardinal priest with the titular church of Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo to the College of Cardinals. On the occasion of this first presentation of the cardinal bishop of Freiburg to a local brewery Blancpain brought a solid beer called Cardinal (French for Cardinal ) on the market. This product was so successful that Paul Alcide Blancpain decided to give his brewery in future the name Cardinal.
Mermillod had a strong rhetorical talent. He also had a keen sense of social and community issues. From 1884 to 1889 he headed the study group Union catholique d' études sociales et économiques (Catholic Union of Social and Economic Studies ), who was involved in preparing social encyclical Rerum Novarum.