Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel

[1] Found to have been living beyond his means, he was relieved of his duties by Wangen zu Geroldseck's successor, Franz Joseph Sigismund von Roggenbach, in 1782.

The document gave the appointment of priests to the electoral assemblies, and, after taking the oath, Gobel had become so popular that he was elected constitutional bishop in several dioceses.

On the 17th Brumaire in the year II (7 November 1793),[6] he came before the bar of the National Convention for his activities as civil commissioner in Porrentruy, and, in a famous scene, resigned his episcopal functions, proclaiming that he did so for love of the people, and through respect for their wishes.

The previous night, a delegation from the Commune led by Hébert, Chaumette and Cloots had demanded that he publicly renounce his faith or be put to death by the people.

He entreated the Abbé to give him the benefit of his ministrations in his last moments, to come to the Conciergerie at the time when he was leaving it for the guillotine, and to pronounce over him the form of absolution, not forgetting the clause "ab omni vinculo excommunicationis".