Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel

Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel

Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel (1 September 1727 – 12 April 1794) was a French Roman Catholic cleric and politician of the Revolution. He was executed during the Reign of Terror.

Biography

Gobel was born in the town of Thann in Alsace to a lawyer to the Sovereign Council of Alsace and tax collector for the Seigneury of Thann. After outstanding success in his early schooling in Porrentruy, he studied at the Jesuit college in Colmar, then theology in the German College in Rome, from which he graduated in 1743.

Clerical career

Gobel was ordained a Catholic priest in 1750 and then became a member of the cathedral chapter of the Prince-Bishop of Basel, Simon Nikolaus Euseb von Montjoye-Hirsingen, based in Porrentruy, In 1771 he was appointed the auxiliary bishop of the diocese for the section that was situated in French territory, being named by the Holy See as a titular bishop in partibus of Lydda. He consecrated the next Prince-Bishop, Friedrich Ludwig Franz von Wangen zu Geroldseck, on 3 March 1776.^[1] Found to have been living beyond his means, he was relieved of his duties by Wangen zu Geroldseck's successor, Franz Joseph Sigismund von Roggenbach, in 1782. After this he began to espouse "reformist" ideas. His political life began when he was elected deputy to the Estates-General of 1789 by the clergy of the Bailiwick of Huningue.

The turning-point of his life was Gobel's action in taking the oath of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (3 January 1791), in favour of which he had declared himself since 5 May 1790. The document gave the appointment of priests to the electoral assemblies, and, after taking the oath, Gobel had become so popular that he was elected constitutional bishop in several dioceses. He chose the Archbishopric of Paris, and in spite of the difficulties which he had to encounter before he could enter into possession, was consecrated on 27 March 1791 by eight bishops, including Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. This action was rejected by the Holy See, which has never recognized him as a legitimate holder of the office, and continues to hold the canonical archbishop, Antoine-Eléonore-Léon Le Clerc de Juigné, as the legitimate Archbishop of Paris during that period.^[2]

Politics

On 8 November 1792, Gobel was appointed administrator of Paris. His public display of anti-clericalism was most likely a careful tactic to ensure the sympathy of politicians: among other things, he declared himself opposed to clerical celibacy. On the 17th Brumaire in the year II (7 November 1793), he came before the bar of the National Convention for his activities as civil commissioner in Porrentruy, and, in a famous scene, resigned his episcopal functions, proclaiming that he did so for love of the people, and through respect for their wishes.

The followers of Jacques Hébert, who were then pursuing their anti-Christian policy, claimed Gobel as their representative. At the same time, Hébert's rival Maximilien Robespierre viewed Gobel as an atheist - although he was not accused of apostasy, and never publicly professed atheism.

Robespierre's vision of a deist Cult of the Supreme Being was threatened by the opposition of atheist Hébertists (see Cult of Reason), and Gobel shared the fate of the latter. He was sentenced to death with Hébert, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, and Anacharsis Cloots, and was guillotined.

Notes

1. "Bishop Friedrich Ludwig Franz von Wangen zu Geroldseck". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
2. "Archbishop Antoine-Eléonore-Léon Le Clerc de Juigné". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. In turn, it cites as references:
  • François Victor Alphonse Aulard, "La Culte de la raison" in the review La Révolution Française (1891).
  • Étienne Charavay, Assemble electorale de Paris (Paris, 1890).
  • H. Monin, La Chanson et l'Eglise sous la Révolution (Paris, 1892).
  • "Episcopat de Gobel" in vol. iii. (1900) of Jean Maurice Tourneux, Bibliographie de l'histoire de Paris pendant la Rév. Fr.