Mercury, Everard

Born into a humble family in the village of Marcourt near La Roche-en-Ardenne , modern Belgium . From the name of the village came his surname, he himself signed as Everard de Marcourt, but is better known under the Latinized version of "Mercurian". After studying at the University of Paris, he was ordained a priest and served as a parish curator. I met with the Jesuits at the university, but I decided to join the Society of Jesus later, was accepted into the order in 1548. He quickly advanced to a leading position, was a visitor to the German province of the order, then a provincial of Lower Germany.

After the third general of the Francisco Borgia Society passed away in 1572, the third general congregation of the Jesuit Order took place. Pope Gregory XIII , who had close ties with the Jesuits, for political reasons expressed his desire that the new general be elected not from among the Spaniards. The congregation heeded the papal wish, Everard Mercurian became the fourth general of the society and the first non-Spaniard, which caused dissatisfaction of the Spanish and Portuguese Jesuits.

As a general, he paid great attention to missionary activity, during which missions were established in India , Japan and the Moluccas . Finally formulated the "rules" of society, compiled the "Sum of Constitutions" from the writings of St. Ignatia . He tried to avoid politics as much as possible, in particular he was skeptical of the Jesuit mission of Edmund Campion and Robert Parsons to England .

He died on August 1, 1580, was buried in Ile Gesu . Over the seven years of his reign, the order has grown significantly, by the time of the death of Mercury they had 5,000 members in 18 provinces ^[1] .

• Jesuit Generals Prior to the Suppression of the Society (1541-1773) "// Catholic Encyclopedia