Grandmaison, Léonce de
GRANDMAISON, LÉONCE DE
Theologian, defender of the Church's teaching against the incursions of relativism and Modernism; b. Le Mans, Dec. 31, 1868; d. Paris, June 15, 1927. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1886, studied on the Isle of Jersey from 1890 to 1893, then completed his studies while a teacher at Le Mans. In 1899, the year following his ordination, he became professor of apologetics, first at Fourvière, France, then at Hastings, England. In 1908 he was appointed editor of Études, and in 1910, inspired by the anti-Modernist encyclical pascendi (1907), he founded the periodical Recherches de science religieuse. He was a prolific writer, whose forte was apologetic writing, and who composed over 150 extensive treatises in the various fields of religion and theology. His most significant work, Jésus Christ: sa personne, son message, ses épreuves, was published in two volumes, after his death, by his friend Jules Lebreton. His article "Jésus Christ," in the Dictionnaire apologétique de la foi catholique 2: 1288–1538, is also a significant work. For a list of his works, see Geuser, 281–295.
Bibliography: j. geuser, "Mélanges Grandmaison," Recherches de science réligieuse 18 (1928) 281–295. j. lebreton, Le Père Léonce de Grandmaison (Paris 1932). l. koch, Jesuiten-Lexikon: Die Gesellschaft Jesu einst und jetzt 723–724.
[b. f. sargent]