Thomas-Marie-Joseph Gousset (born at Montigny-lès-Cherlieu, a village of Franche-Comté, in 1792; died at Reims in 1866) was a French cardinal and theologian. The son of a vine-grower, he at first laboured in the fields, and did not begin his studies till the age of seventeen. Ordained priest in 1817, he was a curate for several months, and was then charged with teaching moraI theology at the Grand Séminaire of

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

. He retained this chair until 1830, acquiring the reputation of an expert professor and consummate

casuist In ethics, casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending theoretical rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and ju ...

. It was then he re-edited with accompanying notes and dissertations the ''Conférences d'Angers'' (26 vols., 1823), and the ''Dictionnaire théologique'' of Bergier (1826), of which he published another edition in 1843. From these years of his professorship date his clear exposition of the "Doctrine de l' Eglise sur le prêt à intérêt" (1825), "Le Code civil commenté dans ses rapports avec la théologie morale" (1827), and "Justification de la théologie du P. Liguori" (1829). Summoned to the post of vicar-general of Besançon by

Cardinal de Rohan Louis René Édouard de Rohan known as Cardinal de Rohan (25 September 1734 – 16 February 1803), ''prince de Rohan-Guéméné'', was a French Bishop of Strasbourg, politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and cadet of the Rohan f ...

, he fulfilled the duties of post from 1830 to 1835. At this date he was named

Bishop of Périgueux A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, and in the following year he presented to Villemain his "Observations sur la liberté d'enseignement", a protest against the monopoly of the university. In 1840 he was called to the Archdiocese of Reims, but his episcopal duties did not prevent him from completing important theological works. In 1844 appeared in French his "Théologie morale a l'usage des curés et des confesseurs", which ran quickly through several editions. His treatise on dogmatic theology (2 Vols. 1848) had no less success. The dignity of cardinal was conferred on him in 1850, and he was given the

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church is a church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the clergy who is created a cardinal. These are Catholic churches in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rome, that serve as honorary des ...

San Callisto San Callisto ( en, Saint Callixtus, la, S. Calixti) is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, Italy, built over the site of Pope Callixtus I's martyrdom (c. AD 222). The original building dates from the time of Pope Gregory III (r. 731–741), ...

on 10 April 1851.Cardinal Title S. Callisto
GCatholic.org In virtue of the Constitution of 1852 he became a

senator of the empire A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the eld ...

, and in 1858 commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. His last works were "Exposition des principes de droit canonique" (1859); "Du droit de l' Eglise touchant le possession des biens destinés au culte et la souverainté temporelle du Pape." (1862)

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Catholic-hierarchy.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gousset, Thomas-Marie-Joseph 1792 births 1866 deaths 19th-century French cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Pius IX 19th-century French Catholic theologians Bishops of Périgueux Archbishops of Reims