ALÈS (Alais, according to the spelling prior to 1926) – A city in southern France (department of Gard), of ancient Celtic origin (Alestum, Alesienis civitas; hence the heraldic coat of arms with half-flying wings). It suffered greatly during the "Wars of Religion" (1559–1598): it was the scene of extremely bloody conflicts that destroyed much of its archives and monuments. In 1692, Louis XIV chose it, with the approval of Innocent XII, as the seat of a new bishopric, making it the headquarters of the struggle against the "Camisards" or Huguenots of the Cévennes; this bishopric was later abolished by the Constituent Assembly in 1790. Today the town belongs to the diocese of Nîmes (v.).
A commercial and industrial center since the 12th century, Alès also had a *Studium*, which in the 13th century became particularly notable for its law school. The documents relating to it have been lost, except for three contracts that the city drew up with professors hired for teaching (published by E. de Rozière and M. Fournier). The *Studium* had only local importance.
Addemar d’ALÈS, Ignacio Cecchetti – A French Jesuit, theologian, historian, and apologist, born in Orléans on 2 Dec. 1861, died in Paris on 24 Feb. 1938. Initially devoted to the literary formation of his young confreres, from 1907 he taught theology at the Catholic Institute in Paris, where he served for many years as dean of the Faculty.
He had been drawn to theology by his refined philological training, which led him to the scientific study of Christian tradition, with a particular predilection for Tertullian and his circles. In addition to numerous articles in journals such as *Etudes*, *Recherches de science religieuse*, and *Rev. d'histoire ecclésiastique*, he produced a series of monographs for the *Bibliothèque de théologie historique* of his confrere Giovanni Bainvel: *La théologie de Tertullien* (1905), *La théologie de s. Hippolyte* (1906), *L'édit de Calliste, étude sur les origines de la pénitence chrétienne* (1914), *La théologie de s. Cyprien* (1922), *Novatien, étude sur la théologie romaine au milieu du IIIe siècle* (1925). Other publications, of a more occasional nature, drew on the mastery he had acquired in the same field: *Lumen vitae, l'espérance du salut au début de l'ère chrétienne* (1916), *Le dogme de Nicée* (1926), *Le dogme d'Ephèse* (1931)... For about fifteen years this output was, if not interrupted, at least slowed by his work as director of the new *Dictionnaire apologétique de la Foi catholique* (4 vols., 1911–22; suppl. 1931), perhaps the best-known work of Fr. d’Alès, carried out with great rectitude and a special sensitivity to the needs of the hour following the Modernist crisis. Fr. d’Alès also published the compendium of his lectures, *Prima lineamenta tractatus dogmatici*, five dense manuals rich in first-hand erudition.