Olympe-Philippe Gerbet

Who was Olympe-Philippe Gerbet?

Olympe-Philippe Gerbet was a French Catholic bishop and writer.

Gerbet was born at Poligny, Jura. He studied at the Académie and the Grand-Séminaire of Besançon, also at St-Sulpice and the Sorbonne. Ordained priest in 1822, he joined Lamennais at "La Chesnaie" after a few years spent with Antoine de Salinis at the Lycée Henri IV. An admirer of Lamennais, he nevertheless accepted the papal encyclical Mirari vos of 15 August 1832, and the Singulari nos of 13 July 1834, which condemned the traditionalism of Lamennais. After fruitless efforts to convert the master, he withdrew to the Collège de Juilly.

The years 1839-49 he spent in Rome, gathering data for his "Esquisse de Rome Chrétienne". Recalled by Monseigneur Sibour, he became successively professor of sacred eloquence at the Sorbonne, Vicar-General of Amiens, and bishop of Perpignan. His episcopate was marked by the holding of a synod, the reorganization of clerical studies, various religious foundations, and by the pastoral instruction of 1860 sur diverses erreurs du temps présent, which served as a model for the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX. He died at Perpignan, Pyrénées Orientales, aged 66.