Roman Catholic Cardinal. Versailles born Pierre-Marie Gerlier was the son of a high government functionary and his wife and great-grand-nephew of Saint Catherine of Genoa. Receiving his initial education at the Collège of Saint Lô, where he was a condisciple of likewise future Cardinal Georges-François-Xavier-Marie Grente, he later underwent further studies at the École Fontanes of Paris and at the faculty of law of the University of Bordeaux. Inscribing himself as a lawyer in 1912, he worked at the Court of Appeal of Paris until December 8 of the following year, when he entered the Grand Seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux. Interrupting his theological studies because of the Great War, he served as adjutant in the 104th infantry regiment of the French army. Wounded on September 16, 1914 during the battle of Marne and captured by the enemy, he was imprisoned first in Cologne and later in Celle, Hannover. After spending some time in Switzerland, he was sent back to France and demobilized on March 14, 1919. Decorated with the Croix de Guerre, he then reentered the named seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux. Ordained priest at forty one years of age in Paris, he served as director of Catholic Works in the archdiocese of Paris between 1921 and 1929. Following the demise of Msgr. Alexandre-Philibert Poirier, Pope Pius XI named Gerlier his successor as bishop of the diocese of Tarbes et Lourdes, receiving his episcopal consecration on July 2, 1929 at the metropolitan cathedral of Paris from Cardinal Louis-Ernest Dubois, Archbishop of Paris. Following the unexpected death of Cardinal Louis-Joseph Maurin, he was promoted to the metropolitan see of Lyon on July 30, 1937, becoming thus Primate of the Gauls. Pope Pius XI created him cardinal priest in the consistory of December 13, 1937 with the title of Ss. Trinità al Monte Pincio. Legate to the National Marian Congress held in Lyon on June 13, 1954, that same year, he was decorated with the Légion d'honneur by President René Coty. Papal legate to the National Eucharistic Congress held in Lyon on July 5, 1959, the Cardinal died of a heart attack in Lyon on January 17, 1965, and lies buried in the crypt of Saint-Jean's metropolitan and primatial cathedral of the city.