page_title: Désiré-Joseph Mercier
section_title: Bishop and Cardinal
hierarchical_section_title: Désiré-Joseph Mercier / Biography / Bishop and Cardinal
context_page_description: Désiré-Félicien-François-Joseph Mercier was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a noted scholar. A Thomist scholar, he had several of his works translated into other European languages. He was known for his book, Les origines de la psychologie contemporaine. His scholarship gained him recognition from the Pope and he was appointed as Archbishop of Mechelen, serving from 1906 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1907.
  Mercier is noted for his staunch resistance to the German occupation of 1914–1918 during the Great War.
  After the invasion, he distributed a strong pastoral letter, Patriotism and Endurance, to be read in all his churches, urging the people to keep up their spirits. He served as a model of resistance.
context_section_description: His reputation within his field gained the recognition of Pope Pius X, and Mercier was appointed as Archbishop of Mechelen and Primate of Belgium on 7 February 1906. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 25 March from Archbishop Antonio Vico, and took as his episcopal motto: Apostolus Jesu Christi. Mercier was created Cardinal Priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli by Pope Pius X in the consistory of 15 April 1907.
  During the modernist controversy, Mercier was both progressive and antimoderist. He sought to assess the compatibility of Thomistic philosophy with rapidly developing scientific knowledge. He was a brilliant scholar, open to contemporary ideas and sufficiently respected that he was able to protect scholars at Louvain, such as Bollandist Hippolyte Delehaye, from accusations of "Modernism". Through his influence, Mercier prevented Albin van Hoonacker's Les douze petits prophètes traduits et commentés ("The twelve minor prophets translated and annotated") from being placed on the Index.
  Mercier was a close friend of Benedictine Lambert Beauduin and kept apprised of liturgical and ecumenical developments. From 1921 to 1926 he held regular conversations with Anglican theologians, notably Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax, foreshadowing the Church's future dialogue with the Anglicans. Anglicanism, Mercier believed, must be "united, not absorbed".
  Pope Benedict XV sent his portrait and a letter of whole-hearted support to Mercier in 1916, and at one point told him, "You saved the Church!" Mercier was one of the cardinal electors in the 1922 papal conclave, which selected Pope Pius XI.
caption: Mercier is commemorated by this statue outside St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral in Brussels by Égide Rombaux.
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