Gobel Jean Baptiste Joseph

Gobel Jean Baptiste Joseph, a Roman Catholic bishop of France, was born in 1727 at Thann, in Upper Alsace. He was educated in the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, became canon at Porentruy, Switzealand, and in 1772 bishop inspart. of Lydda, and coadjutor of thee bishop of Basle. In 1789 he went as a delegate of the clergy to the Etats Generaux, allied himself with the Jacobins, became constitutional bishop of Paris, Upper Marne and Upper Rhine, voted on November 7, 1793, for the abolition of Christianity and laid down his ecclesiastical dignities in the hands of the Convention. Having fallen into disfavor with Robespierre, he was executed April 13, 1794. (A.J.S.)