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Theodor, Count von Scherer-Boccard (12 May 1816 at
Dornach : ''Dornach is also a quarter of the French city of Mulhouse and the Scots name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands, and Dòrnach is the Gaelic name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands.'' Dornach (Swiss German: ''Dornech'') is a municipalit ...
in the
canton of Solothurn The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn. History The village of ''Salodurum'' was founded in the time of t ...
– 6 February 1885 at
Solothurn Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...
) was a
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
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and politician.


Life

Scherer belonged to a distinguished family of
Solothurn Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...
. He attended the gymnasium there, took the philosophical course at the lyceum, and then studied law at the Athenäum conducted by the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s at
Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...
. After this Scherer returned to Solothurn and devoted himself to
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, founding the newspaper ''Die Schildwache am Jura'' (1836–41), in which he defended the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and the rights of the people. In addition to this he established in 1839 a bureau of correspondence with conservative tendencies. From 1838 Scherer was also a member of the great council of the
canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...
. His political activity in this body brought him into conflict with the Government and obliged him in 1841 to live abroad for some time in
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and
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. At the close of 1841 he was called to
Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...
where he founded and edited the ''Staatszeitung der katholischen Schweiz'', which became the chief organ of the Catholic-Conservative party. In 1843 Scherer returned to Solothurn and served out a term of imprisonment to which he had been condemned on account of the events of 1841. In 1845 he was made secretary to Magistrate
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of Lucerne, who was the president of the
Sonderbund The Sonderbund War (, , ) of November 1847 was a civil war in Switzerland, then still a relatively loose confederacy of cantons. It ensued after seven Catholic cantons formed the ("separate alliance") in 1845 to protect their interests against ...
. Scherer himself had a share also in the founding of the Sonderbund. After the Sonderbund War he returned to private life at Solothurn, where he devoted himself to labors on behalf of Catholic interests and of social subjects. He did much journalistic work, being a contributor to numerous Catholic journals of Switzerland and Germany. During a visit to Rome in 1852 he was made a Roman count by
Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...
. From 1855 Scherer lived in the small castle of Hünenberg in
Ebikon Ebikon is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lucerne (district), Lucerne in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. History Ebikon was first mentioned during the late 9th centur ...
near Lucerne. In 1868 he married Marie Louise von Boccard, and after that used the double name Scherer-Boccard. In 1844 Scherer founded the Academy of St. Charles Borromeo, an association of the Catholic scholars of Switzerland, and edited as the organ of the association a journal called "Katholische Annalen" (Lucerne, 1847); the war of the "Sonderbund" put an end to this periodical and to the academy also. In 1857 he was one of the founders of the Swiss Pius Association (
Piusverein The Piusverein (Pius Association) was a Roman Catholic society, founded in 1848 in Germany, and named for Pope Pius IX. Its political direction was conservative and ultramontanist, and its purpose was to form a bridge between Catholics and the polit ...
), and from the time the society was established until his death he was the president of the central organization; he was also the head of the Society for Home Missions, founded in 1863. He was in touch with the Catholics of Germany and spoke repeatedly at the German-Catholic congresses.


Works

Scherer-Boccard issued 35 separate publications, containing apologetic, biographical, or historical matter. They included: *"Revolution und Restauration der Staatswissenschaft" (Augsburg and Lucerne, 1842, 2nd ed., 1845); *"Die fünfzehnjahrige Fehde der Revolution gegen die katholische Schweiz 1830-45" (Lucerne, 1846); *"Das Verhältniss zwischen Kirche und Staat" (Ratisbon, 1846, 2nd ed., 1854); *"Die Reformbewegung unserer Zeit und das Christenthum" (Augsburg, 1848); *"Der heilige Vater. Betrachtungen über die Mission und die Verdienste des Papstthums" (Munich, 1850), French tr., "Le Saint-Père. Considérations sur la mission et les mérites de la Papauté" (Paris, 1853); *"Heidenthum und Christenthum betrachtet in den Monumenten des alten und neuen Roms" (Schaffhausen, 1853, 2nd ed., 1880) *"Lebensbilder aus der Gesellschaft Jesu. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der katholischen Restauration" (Schaffhausen, 1854). He was also one of the editors of the "Archiv für schweizerische Reformationsgeschichte" (3 vols., Fribourg, 1869–75).


References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **Mayer, ''Graf Theodor Scherer-Boccard. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der katholischen Bewegung in der Schweiz'' (Einsiedeln, 1900), with portrait. {{DEFAULTSORT:Scherer-Boccard, Theodor von 1816 births 1885 deaths Papal counts 19th-century Swiss journalists Male journalists