He pursued literary studies at St-Brieuc, then at the Collège Stanislas in Paris; he was enrolled in the faculty of medicine when he entered the Order of Preachers (1896). After ordination he taught theology at the Syro-Chaldean seminary in Mosul (Iraq); subsequently he studied at the École biblique in Jerusalem. From 1905 he taught New Testament exegesis at the theological faculty of Fribourg in Switzerland; in 1930 he took up the chair of history of religions there, which had been established at his instigation; in 1938 he retired to Paris.
He wrote articles in defence of the objectivity of the Catholic dogma for the Revue Thomiste (Foi et systèmes, Paris 1907). He published on the religions of India Plaies d'Europe et beaumes du Gange (Juvisy 1931). His best works are the commentaries (in the Études bibliques series) on the two Epistles to the Corinthians (Paris 1935-37) and on the Apocalypse (Paris 1921, 3rd ed., 1933). In the Témoins de Dieu series he published vol. I: Paul, Apôtre de J.-C. (Paris 1942), and vol. IV: Evangile et Evangélistes (ibid. 1944). From 19 Feb. 1941 he was a consultor of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.
GIOVANNI ONGARO