Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/242

 MERMILLOD

208

MERNEPTAH

the designs of God or the true welfare of him who ' prays. Tlic just man may merit ile corigruo for otliers (e. g., parents, relatives, and friends) whatever he is able to merit for himself: the grace of conversion, final perseverance, temporal blessings, nay even the very first prevenient grace {gnitiu prima pra:i-cntcns), (SummaTheol.,I-II.Q- cxiv, a. 6) which he can in no wise merit for himself. St. Thomas gives as reason for this the intimate bond of friendship which sancti- fjing grace establishes between the just man and God. These effects are immeasurably strengthened by prayer for others; as it is beyond doubt that prayer plays an important part in the present economy of salvation. For further explanation see Suarez, "De gratia", XII, 38. Contrary to the opinion of a few theologians (e. g., Billuart), we hold that even a man in mortal sin, provided he co-operate with the first grace of conversion, is able to merit de congruo by his supernatural acts not only a series of graces which will lead to conversion, but finally justification itself; at all events it is certain that he may obtain these graces by prayer, made with the assistance of grace (cf. Ps., 1, 9; tob., xii, 9; Dan., iv, 24; Matt., vi, 14).

For the concept of merit see Taparelli, Saggio teoretico del dirillo naturate (Palermo, 1842); Summa thcoL, I-II, Q. xxi, aa. 3-4; WiRTH, Der Begriff dcs Meritum hex Tcrtullian {Leipzig. 1892); Idem, Dcr Verdicnstbcgriff in der christl. Kirche naeh seiner gesehiehtl. Bntwickelung . II: Der Verdicnstbcgriff bci Cyprian (Leipzig, 1901). For the Jewish conceptioa of merit see Weber-Schnedemann, Jiidische Theol. (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1897). For merit itself cf. Summa Theol, I-II, Q. cix, a. 5; Q. cxiv, aa. 1 sqq.; Bellakmine, De jitstific, V, i-xxii; Suarez. De oralia, XII, i sqq.; Ripalda, De ente liupcmaiurali, disp. Ixxi-xcvi; Billuart, De gratia, dissert, viii, aa. 1-5; Schif- FINI, De gratia divina (Freiburg, 1901), pp. 594 sqq.; Pesch, Prcel, dogmata, V (jrd ed.. Freiburg. 1908). 215sqq.; Heinrich- Gutberlet. Dogmat. Theologie, VIII (Mainz, 1897); Pohle, Dogmatik (4th ed., Paderbom, 1909); Atzberger, Gesch. der christl. Eschatologie (Freiburg, 1896); Kneib, Die Heteronomic der christl. Moral (Vienna, 1903); Idem, Die *' Loknsiicht" der christl. Moral (Vieaaa, 1904); Idem, Die J enseitsmoral im Kampje um ihre Grundlagen {Freiburg, 1906); Ernst, Die Notwendigkeit der guien Meinung. Untersuchungen Tiber die Gottcsliebe als Prinzip der Sittlichkeit und Verdienstlichkeit (Frei- burg, 190.5); Strehler, Das Ideal der kathol. Sittlichkeit (Bres- lau, 1907); Cathrein, Die kathol. Weltanschauung in ihren Grundlinicn mit besonderer Beruckaichtigung der Moral (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1910).

J. Pohle.

Mennillod, G.\spard, Bishop of Lausaime and car- dinal, b. at Carouge, Switzerland, 22 Sept., 1824; d. in Rome, 23 Feb., 1892. He studied at the Jesuit Col- lege at Freiburg, Switzerland; became a priest in 1847, and was soon after a curate in Geneva, where he es- tablished two periodicals: " L'Observateur Catho- lique" and "Les Annales Catholiques". In 1857 he became parish priest of Geneva and at the same time Vicar-General of the Bishop of Lausanne for the can- ton of Geneva. The splendid edifice of Notre-Dame, still the principal church of Geneva, was built by him from 18.51 to 1859. The funds were subscribed from all parts of Christendom. In 1864 he became titular Bishop of Hebron, and auxiliary of the Bishop of Lau- sanne for the canton of Geneva, with residence at Geneva. For seven years he pursued without hin- drance his episcopal functions, and was especially active for Catholic education, founding with Marie de Sales Chappuis the female Oblates of Saint Francis of Sales at Troyes for the protection of poor working girls. AWicn the Holy See made him independent Administrator of Geneva, the Radical Government of the canton protested, and a long and serious conflict ensued. He was at first forbidden to exercise any episcopal functions whatever, and later was declared deposed even as regarded his functions as a parish- priest. ^^'hen the Bishop of Lausanne renounced un- conditionally the title of the See of Geneva, the pope appointed Mermillod to be Vicar-Apostolic of Geneva. The City Council, then, caused his expulsion from Switzerland, whereupon he repaired to Ferney, in French territory, from which place he governed his diocese as best he could. At the cessation of the re-

ligious conllict Leo XIII niade the newly elected Bishop of Lausanne also Bishop of Geneva, without, however, depriving Mermillod of his office. The Gov- ernment dill not, however, alter its tactics, and Mer- millod could return to Switzerland only after the death of the bishop whose successor he became. The conflict was, however, bj- no means at an end, for the canton of Geneva refused to recognize him as liishop.aiid normal relations were resumed only when Mermillod became cardinal in 1890. Cardinal Mermillod was one of the great preachers of modern times. In his far-sighted policy he founded in 1885 the "Union Catholique d'etudes sociales et (^conomiques". His "Lettres k un Protestant sur I'autorite de I'eglise et le schisme" (Paris, 1860) made a great impression. Another im- portant work was his " De la vie surnaturellc dans les ames" (Lyons, 1865; Paris, 1881). His collected works were edited by Grospellier (Paris, 1893) in three volumes.

Keller, In rei memoriam (Paran, 1883) ; Belloc, Le cardinal Mermillod, sa vie, ses aeuvres et son apostolat (Fribourg, 1S92).

Patricius Schlageb.

Merneptah I (12347-1214 b. c), the fourth king of the iiiiirtrciith KRVjitian ilynasty and the supi)Osed Pharaoh of the Exodus, w'as the thirteenth son of Rameses II whom he succeetled in or about 1234 b. c, being then long past middle age. His rule lasted some twenty years, during which he carried on consid- erable building operations in the Delta, and notably at Tanis (Zoan), where, indeetl as elsewhere, he usurped a number of some of his predecessors' monuments. His original works are comparatively few and insignificant. His name is constantly found on the monmnents of his father; it appears also in Nubia, and in the old quar- ries in the Sinaitic peninsula. In his tliird year, he quelled a revolt to the N. E., possibly excited by the Hittites; and in his fifth year, he repelled an invasion of Egypt by the Lybians and their allies, which victory is boastfully described on a black granite stela found in ls(i in his funeral temple at Thebes, and bearing the earliest known reference to Israel. He is com- monly regarded as the Pharaoh of the Exodus on the following grounds. On the one hanii, recent Egj'p- tian discoveries have shown that Rameses II founded the cities represented in Ex., i, 11, as built by the op- pressed Hebrews, and therefore point to him as the Pharaoh of the oppression. On the other hand, Ex., ii, 23; iv, 19, imply that the immediate successor of that Pharaoh was on the throne when Moses returned to Egypt where he soon delivered his people. Whence it is not unnaturally inferred that Merneptah I, Ram- eses' son and successor, is the Pharaoh of the E.xodus. The chief objection to this view is that it seems to con- tradict the final strophe of Merneptah's "Hymn of Victoiy" over the Lybians inscribed on the granite stela already referred to. After relating the subjec- tion of CUanaan and of .\scalon by the Egyptians, this inscription adds: "Israel is spoiled, his seed is not; Palestine has become a widow for Egypt. " How can Merneptah I be the Pharaoh of the Exodus since ac- cording to the obvious meaning of this passage, the Israelites when defeated by him were already settled in Palestine, a settlement which as we know from the Bible was effected only after a forty years' wandering and therefore after Merneptah's death? This diffi- culty has led many scholars to consider an earlier king as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, while others have an- swered it in various ways. The following is its most probable solution. Scholars not expecting the exact truth to be told in an Egyptian inscription concerning the Exodus disaster, and noticing that in the final strophe of Merneptah's " Hymn of Victory" an actual boastful misrepresentation of his relation to the Hit- tittes, precedes almost immediately the distinct refer- ence to Israel as " spoiled ", wiU readily think that the glory therein claimed by Merneptah over the Israelites is to be taken as a boastful misrepresentation of what