Merlin, Jacques (1)

Merlin, Jacques (1), a French theologian, was born n Saint-Victurnin, Limousin, about the latter part of the 15th century. After having received his diploma as a doctor of theology at Navarre (1499), he became lecturer on divinity to the chapter of Saint-Etienne de Limoges. Subsequently he was ordained curate of Montmartre, near Paris. In 1525 he was appointed chief penitentiary of the cathedral of Notre-Dame, of which he had previously been resident canon.

In 1527, king Francis I caused his arrest and incarceration for preaching against certain courtiers who were suspected of sympathy with the reform movement. He was cast into the dungeon of the Louvre. At the entreaties of the prebendaries of Paris he was liberated, after having suffered incarceration 'for two years, but even then was confined in his residence at Nantes. He was allowed, however, to return to Paris in 1530, when he was installed grand-vicar' to the bishop of Paris, and also curate and archpriest of La Madeleine. In the introduction to the edition of Origen's works, which he published in 1511, he wrote an Apologie d'Origene. This apology, wherein, for the first time, the errors imputed to Origen are justified, caused Merlin's condemnation by the Paris Faculty of Theology, and by the impetuous syndic Noel Beda. He likewise published a Collection de tous les Coriciles, the first ever issued from the press (Paris, 1524, fol.; Cologne, 1530, 8vo; and Paris, 1535, 8vo). He also edited the works of Richard de Saint-Victor. (Paris, 1518):-Pierre de Blois (Paris, 1519): — Durand de Saint-Poursain (1515),; and six Homelies en Franfais, surces paroles de l'Evangile: Missus est angelus Gabrniel (Paris, 1538, 8vo). Merlin died in Paris Sept. 26,1541, and was buried in the crypt of Notre-Dame. See Dupin, Aut. eccl. du seizime siecle, 4:545; Salmon, Trait de l'Etude des Conciles, p. 197, 474.