Olivier de Germay | |
---|---|
Metropolitan archbishop of Lyon Primate of the Gauls | |
![]() de Germay in 2017 | |
Church | Catholic Church |
Archdiocese | Lyon |
Province | Lyon |
Appointed | 22 October 2020 |
Installed | 20 December 2020 |
Predecessor | Philippe Barbarin |
Previous post(s) |
|
Orders | |
Ordination | 17 May 1998 by Émile Marcus |
Consecration | 14 April 2012 by Georges Pontier |
Personal details | |
Born | Olivier Jacques Marie Certain de Germay de Cirfontaine [1] 18 September 1960 |
Nationality | French |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Alma mater | |
Motto | Latin: Christus dilexit Ecclesiam, lit. 'Christ loved the Church' |
Coat of arms | ![]() |
Olivier Jacques Marie Certain de Germay de Cirfontaine (born 18 September 1960) is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who has been metropolitan archbishop of Lyon since December 2020. He served as bishop of Ajaccio from 2012 to 2020. Before taking up his clerical career, he served as a paratrooper in the French army.
Olivier de Germay was born on 18 September 1960 in Tours, France. He was the third of five children born to Christian de Germay, a general in the French army, and Claude Bullier. [2] He studied at the Military Lyceum in La Flèche and the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr in Coëtquidan, earning an engineering diploma and the rank of captain. [3] Beginning in 1986 he served five years as an army paratrooper based in Tarbes, [4] taking part in missions in Chad, Central Africa and Iraq. [5] He left the army with the rank of lieutenant.[ citation needed ] He later described a moment of insight he experienced while on duty in Africa: [2]
I lived a few days in the desert. I met people there who lived on three times nothing and who were happier than me. People who exuded an inner peace, while I was grappling with diffuse feelings of unease. I suddenly realized that by leading a life centered on myself, I was moving away from the essential. At that time, I didn't think of becoming a priest, I only had the irrepressible desire to change my life...
He entered the seminary in 1991 and studied at the seminary in Paray-le-Monial for the first cycle, completing his second cycle at the Seminary and University of Pius XI and the Catholic University of Toulouse. Whilst living at the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome, he obtained a licentiate in moral theology from the John Paul II Institute of the Pontifical Lateran University. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Toulouse on 17 May 1998. [3] He worked as vicar of Castanet-Tolosan and diocesan chaplain of the Guides of France from 1999 to 2001; pastor of the parish ensemble of Catenet from 2001 to 2003; dean of the Banlieues-Sud area of Toulouse from 2003 to 2006; pastor of the parish ensemble of Beauzelle from 2006 to 2012; episcopal vicar for the suburb of Toulouse from 2004 to 2012; professor of sacramental and family theology at the Institut Catholique of Toulouse from 2008 to 2012; and assistant of the Diocesan Service of Family Pastoral Care from 2010 to 2012. [6]
Ordination history of Olivier de Germay | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Styles of Olivier de Germay | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Reference style | The Most Reverend |
Spoken style | Your Excellency |
Religious style | Archbishop |
On 22 February 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Ajaccio, despite de Germay never having visited Corsica. [3] [2] He received his episcopal consecration on the following 14 April. [7] He was the second bishop to have been consecrated in Corsica in more than 200 years. [4] As bishop, he chose to draw a priest's stipend. [2] After an attack on an Islamic reading room in his diocese, where anti-Muslim sentiment is strong, he said: [5]
We cannot claim Christian identity if we do not seek peace, fraternity, openness to others. We cannot be satisfied with preserving the outward signs of Christendom. If we do this without worrying about the heart of the faith, we risk finding ourselves in front of an empty shell which will one day crumble. Because, alongside the defense of these external signs, Corsica is experiencing a real crisis of transmission of the faith.
The Bishops' Conference of France elected him as an alternate delegate to the 2015 Synod on the Family. On the Synod's consideration of access to the sacraments for those who are divorced and attempted remarriage, he underlined its insistence on accompaniment and individual histories, adding that "it was already being done but perhaps not enough: one can be divorced-remarried and have responsibilities in the Church." [8]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he supported the government's restrictions on gatherings, but protested when its relaxation of its confinement policy ignored the recommendations of the French bishops in anticipation of the public celebrations of Pentecost. He warned the government not to "muzzle" the Church. [5]
Pope Francis named him metropolitan archbishop of Lyon on 22 October 2020. [6] He was installed there on 20 December 2020. [9] He had not been mentioned in press speculation as a candidate for Lyon [5] [10] and Le Monde called it "a surprise". [5]
As archbishop of Lyon, de Germay holds the title of Primate of the Gauls. [11] [12]
Given the cases of sexual abuse and his predecessor's trial and acquittal, de Germay said he was "arriving on tiptoe" in Lyon. [10] Within the Bishops' Conference of France, he is a member of the Council for Movements and Associations of Faithful. [6]
De Germay is considered a conservative, and is outspoken on issues pertaining to marriage and sexuality. [5] [10] In an interview with Corse-Matin, when asked about the Church's opposition to condoms, he said that "[s]he has something more profound to tell young people about the beauty of sexuality than essentially hygienic discourse." Commenting on clerical celibacy, he remarked that his relationship to God as a cleric can be on the "same order as a loving relationship [marriage]" and offered an indirect defence of the Latin Church's practice of mandatory celibacy by mentioning the struggles married Eastern Church clergy had confided to him. [2]
Joseph Cardinal Fesch, Prince of the Empire was a French priest and diplomat, who was the maternal half-uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte. In the wake of his nephew, he became Archbishop of Lyon and cardinal. He was also one of the most famous art collectors of his period, remembered for having established the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio, which remains one of the most important Napoleonic collections of art.
Athletic Club Ajaccien, commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French professional football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in the Ligue 2, the second tier of the French football league system. Ajaccio play their home matches at the Stade Michel Moretti and are rivals with fellow Corsican club Bastia, with whom they contest the Corsica derby.
Jean-Pierre Ricard is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Bordeaux from 2001 to 2019. He has been a cardinal since 2006. He was previously Bishop of Montpellier for five years and before that an auxiliary bishop in Grenoble. From 2001 to 2007 he was president of the French Episcopal Conference.
The Archdiocese of Lyon, formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archbishops of Lyon are also called primates of Gaul. An archbishop is usually elevated by the pope to the rank of cardinal.
The Diocese of Ajaccio is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the whole of the island of Corsica.
Gazélec Football Club Ajaccio, commonly referred to as GFC Ajaccio, GFCA, Gazélec Ajaccio or simply Gazélec, is a French football club from Ajaccio, Corsica. Founded in 1910, Gazélec played one season in Ligue 1 in the 2015–16 season. As of the 2024–25 season, it competes in the Régional 1, the sixth tier of the French football league system.
The Diocese of Blois is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese lies in western France, and encompasses the department of Loir-et-Cher. Since 2002 it has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Tours. The episcopal seat is currently vacant since the appointment of Jean-Pierre Batut to Toulouse as auxiliary bishop in 26 June 2023.
The Diocese of Accia was a Roman Catholic bishopric on the island of Corsica. It is now a titular diocese. The diocese was located in the town of Accia in the interior region of Haute-Corse, which was destroyed and from which only some ruins remain. Established in 824 AD it was merged with the Diocese of Mariana in 1554. In 1570 the Bishop of Mariana and Accia moved his seat to Bastia.
The Diocese of Mariana in Corsica was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Mariana, Corsica, in the north-eastern corner of the island. In 1563 the diocese was united with the Diocese of Acci(a) to form the Diocese of Accia and Mariana. Both dioceses were poor and had lost population. Mariana had been abandoned and its bishop lived in Bastia to the north, the seat of the civil government of the island. The Cathedral sat alone near the banks of the River Golo some three miles from the sea, in the midst of fields.
The 2015 Corsican protests were a series of marches by several hundred Corsican nationalists that began on 25 December, in Ajaccio, capital of Corsica. During the initial demonstrations, a Muslim prayer hall was burned down and Qur'ans were set alight. Further protests were organised after the initial march despite a government ban on protests until 4 January 2016. The protesters claimed to be acting in revenge for an incident that occurred the day prior when firefighters and police were assaulted in the neighbourhood of Les Jardins de l'Empereur; however, outside observers labeled the ensuing riots as anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. The Corsican nationalist politicians have claimed their view does not legitimise xenophobia, blaming the protest on French nationalism instead. Scholarly opinions on this claim are divided.
The Diocese of Nebbio was a Roman Catholic diocese located in the town of Saint-Florent in Corsica. The Cathedral is on a low hill one mile from the port of Saint-Florent. In the Medieval period the Bishop of Nebbio was also the temporal lord of nearly all the lands in his diocese. In 1667, Nebbio was completely abandoned and the bishop lived in Saint-Florent, a town of about 200 inhabitants, under the dominion of the Republic of Genoa. The diocese had some 22 places. The Cathedral Chapter had two dignities, the Archdeacon and the Provost, and three Canons. In 1770 the diocese was under the dominion of the King of France, and Saint-Fleur had about 600 inhabitants. The Chapter of the Cathedral still existed, with two dignities and six Canons.
Désiré Tsarahazana is a Malagasy prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Toamasina since 2010 but served in that see prior to its elevation since 2008. Pope Francis appointed him a cardinal in 2018.
Jean-Marc Noël Aveline is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was named Archbishop of Marseille on 8 August 2019 after serving as an auxiliary bishop there since 2013 and been a cardinal since 2022.
Julien Florian Félix Desprez, who used the name Florian Desprez (14 April 1807 – 21 January 1895) was a French prelate of the Catholic Church, who became a bishop in 1850, first in Réunion from 1850 to 1857 and then in Limoges until 1859. He spent 36 years of his ecclesiastical career as archbishop of Toulouse from 1859 to 1895. He was made a cardinal in 1879.
Laurent Marcangeli is a French politician who has been serving as a member of the National Assembly from 2012 to 2017 and again from 2022, representing Corse-du-Sud's 1st constituency.
François-Xavier Bustillo OFMConv is a French Catholic prelate of Spanish origin who has been the Bishop of Ajaccio in Corsica since 2021. He is a member of the Conventual Franciscans.
José Rossi is French politician, who served as the President of the Corsican Assembly from 1998 to 2004.
Sagone or Saone is a small seaside resort on the west coast of the island of Corsica in the commune of Vico. The settlement dates back to the 4th century, when a Roman villa was built there, with other buildings for slaves or peasants. A Christian church was built in the 5th or 6th century, later abandoned. A new cathedral was built in the 12th century, seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sagone. The Genoese built a tower in the 16th century to defend Sagone against Barbary pirates. The cathedral had been abandoned by the 18th century, and the town was deserted. The tower was badly damaged in 1811 during an attack by the British. Today the village is growing again due to tourism.
Laurent Bernard Marie Ulrich is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who became Archbishop of Paris in May 2022.
Norbert José Henri Turini is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was named metropolitan archbishop of Montpellier in July 2022. He was bishop of Cahors from 2004 to 2014 and bishop of Perpignan-Elne from 2015 to 2022.