BERGIER, NICOLAS-SYLVESTRE.— French theologian and apologist, b. at Darney (Lorraine) on 31 Dec. 1718, d. at Versailles on 9 Apr. 1790. After graduating in theology at Besançon, he went to Paris to complete his studies. Called back to his diocese in 1748, he became parish priest of Flangebouche, and in 1764, after the suppression of the Jesuits, director of the college at Besançon. In 1769, at the invitation of Archbishop M. de Beaumont, he returned to Paris and was appointed canon of the Cathedral.
B. is the author of many apologetic works, which rightly make him one of the most valid defenders of Christianity in the 18th century. Most famous of all is the *Dictionnaire théologique*, which represents the first attempt of its kind and, despite certain doctrinal and methodological defects, was deservedly appreciated by contemporaries and posterity. Published in Paris in 1788, in 3 vols., 4to, it collected the articles written by B. for the *Encyclopédie*. It has subsequently been reprinted many times in various formats and with numerous additions (8 vols., Liège 1789; Toulouse 1801; ibid. 1819; Besançon 1838; 4 vols., Paris 1839; 12 vols., ibid. 1875).
Besides the *Dictionnaire*, the following works deserve mention: *Le déisme réfuté par lui-même* (2 vols., Paris 1765) against Rousseau; *La certitude des preuves du christianisme* (ibid. 1767), included by Migne in his *Démonstrations évangéliques*; *Apologie de la religion chrétienne* (2 vols., ibid. 1790) against d’Holbach; *Réponse aux Conseils raisonnables* (ibid. 1771) against Voltaire, also included by Migne in the *Démonstrations évangéliques*; *Examen du matérialisme ou réfutation du Système de la nature* (2 vols., ibid. 1771); *Traité historique et dogmatique de la vraie religion* (12 vols., ibid. 1780).
B. has been reproached for his collaboration with the *Encyclopédie* and thus for the dissemination he thereby provided of an undertaking in itself so dangerous. However, as Dublanchy observes, it must be considered that B. did not decide upon this collaboration except after the insistence of friends and the pressing advice of the Archbishop of Paris. At first his collaboration was limited to the revision of deficient articles. Soon, however, the corrector found himself obliged to replace with entirely new articles those which did not seem susceptible of correction.