GERASENES,
ger"a-sinz': According to the best
readings of
Mark v. 1
and
Luke viii. 26,
the name
of the people in whose region Jesus healed a demoniac, permitting the "legion of demons" to enter
into a herd of swine. In
Matt. viii. 28
" Gadarenes " is the preferable reading, and " Gergesenes " is also found. Gadara, the capital of
Per2ea, has been thought too far from the Sea of
Galilee to satisfy the narrative, but its territory
reached to the shores of the sea. A hill west of the
sea, Jabal Kuran Jaradi, has been thought to retain
the old name, changing Gadarenes into Garadenes.
Gerasa can not be the modern Jerash, but may be
Kersah, a ruined village on the left bank of the
Wadi as-Samak about half-way between the northern and southern extremities of the Sea of Galilee,
or as-Sur (connected with kursi, " seat ") farther
up the same wadi. See
Gaulanitis;
Peraea.
GERBERON, zhar"be"ren', GABRIEL:
One of
the most famous disciples of St. Augustine and one
of the most profilic writers of his time; b. at St.
Calais (95 m. s.w. of Paris), in Maine, Aug. 12, 1628;
d. at the abbey of St. Denis,
Paris, Mar. 29, 1711.
He received an excellent education from the fathers
of the Congregation of St. Maur, of which he became a member in 1648. He taught rhetoric, philosophy, and theology in different abbeys; but,
developing too great a zeal for the doctrine of the
"disciples of grace" and being suspected as a
Jansenist, his superiors finally sent him to the abbey
of St. Germain des Pr6s at Paris, under
supervision.
After 1675 he was active in the abbey of Corbie
near Amiens. In 1676 his
Miroir de la pi& chr&
tienne
appeared at Brussels, a work which several
archbishops and writers criticized as a renewal of
the five condemned sentences of Jansen; Gerberon
defended his work in
Le Miroir sans
tache
(Paris,
1680). The Jesuits and their partizans in his congregation denounced him in Paris for taking the
part of the pope against the king in the disputes
concerning the royal prerogative. Gerberon was
threatened with arrest, but fled with the consent
of his superior to the Spanish Netherlands. The
Jansenist clergy called him to Holland, but owing
to his attacks on the Protestants he was compelled
to return to Brussels in 1690. In 1703 he was arrested, forced to sign the condemnation of the five
sentences of Jansen, and delivered to his superiors
for punishment; until 1707 he was kept a prisoner
in Amiens. After he had given his signature, the
pope allowed him to read mass. In Vincennes he
was treated with greater severity; being stricken
with paralysis, Cardinal Archbishop Noailles threatened to let him die "like a dog," without the Eucharist, if he did not sign certain
further propositions expressing the cardinal's opinion. In 1710 he
was handed over to his congregation. As soon as
he learned that his signature was interpreted as a
recantation of his doctrine, he wrote
Le Vain Triomphe des Josuitm,
but his superiors prevented its
publication. On his death-bed he recalled all declarations, " wrested from his weakness by cunning
and force," except the condemnation of the five
sentences. Besides the works mentioned, he wrote
Apologia pro Ruperto abbate Tiutense
(Paris, 1669)
against the Calvinistic doctrine of the Lord's Supper,
Defense de liglise romaine eontre lee calomnies
des `protestants
(Cologne, 1688, 1691), and many
other works, said to number 111 in all.
(C. Pfender.)
Bibliography:
Supplhnent au n&rolope de 1'abbaye . . . de
Port-Royal-dea-Champs, i. 498 sqq., Amsterdam, 1735;
R. P. Tasein,
Getehrtengeschichte der Congregation roan St.
Maur, i. 505 sqq., Frankfort, 1773; KL, v. 350-353;
Lichtenberger, ESN, v. 539-540.
