**BILLIA, Lorenzo Michelangelo.** – Philosopher, born in Cuneo on 1 December 1860, died in Florence on 10 April 1924. Having joined Morando in defending the Rosminian propositions that had been condemned, in *L’esilio di s. Agostino* (Turin 1869) he strove to keep alive, through Rosmini and with uncommon erudition and acumen, the idealistic-Christian tradition that, in his view, had been exiled by the Neothomism of Louvain.
He founded *Il Nuovo Risorgimento* in 1860 and directed it until 1901. Other works: *Intorno ad un fatto contemporaneo* (Padua 1899); *Le quaranta proposizioni attribuite a Antonio Rosmini* (Milan 1889); *Antonio Rosmini nei suoi frammenti di filosofia del diritto* (Rovereto 1890); *Max Müller e la scienza del pensiero* (Milan 1890; etc.).
---
**BILLIART, Marie-Rose-Julie, Blessed.** – Foundress of the Namur (v.), born into a humble family on 12 July 1751 in Cuvilly near Compiègne, diocese of Beauvais, died in Namur on 8 April 1816. In 1782 she lost the use of her legs to paralysis and only recovered it miraculously after twenty-two years. During the Revolution, having taken refuge in Amiens, she met Marie-Louise-Françoise Blin de Bourdon, a noblewoman of ample means. In 1803 they opened a house for abandoned orphans and a catechism school, to which B. devoted all her care, convinced of the fundamental importance of catechetical instruction. In 1805 the first nucleus of the Congregation was formed. Yet a harder trial than her long physical sufferings was borne by her with unalterable serenity in 1809, when, through the intrigues of a cleric and the misunderstanding of others, she and her sisters were expelled from the diocese of Amiens. The bishop of Namur welcomed the community, and the institute continued to flourish and spread widely. She was beatified on 13 May 1906.
---
**BILLIK, Eberhard.** – Carmelite theologian, born in Cologne between 1490 and 1500, died on 12 January 1557. His family name was Steinberger. Professor at Cologne and prior of the convent, in 1542 he was elected provincial of Lower Germany. A tenacious opponent of the apostate Archbishop of Cologne, Hermann of Wied, he contributed substantially to his deposition, thereby saving the faith of the city. An opponent of Bucer, Melanchthon, and Oldendorf, he combated them effectively both in speech and in writing. At the invitation of Cardinal Morone, in 1540 he refuted the Augsburg Confession. Summoned to Trent as a theologian, in 1551 he accompanied the new Archbishop of Cologne, Adolf of Schaumburg. On 22 December 1556 Paul IV named him auxiliary bishop of Cologne, but he died shortly thereafter without having been consecrated.
A history of the Council of Trent that he wrote has been lost; however, besides his correspondence (valuable for the history of the period), there remain: *Judicium deputatorum universitatis et secundari cleric coloniensis de doctrina et vocatione Mart. Buceri ad Bonnam* (Cologne 1543); *Judicii universitatis et cleric coloniensis adversus calumnias Ph. Melanchthonis, Mart. Buceri, Oldendorpi et eorum asseclarum defensio cum diligenti explicatione materiarum controversarum* (ibid. 1545).
---
**BILLIOTON, Islands:** V. Banka and Billiton, Apostolic Prefecture of.
---
**BILLIOTT, Louis.** – Eminent modern theologian, born in Sierck (Metz) on 12 January 1846, died in Galloro (Rome) on 18 December 1931. He pursued theological studies in the seminaries of Metz and Blois, was ordained priest in 1869, and soon after entered the Society of Jesus in Angers. He taught Sacred Scripture at Laval, then dogmatic theology at Angers, whence he moved to Jersey. In 1885 he was called to Rome, to the Gregorian University, where, apart from a brief interruption, he held the chair of dogmatic theology until 1911, when he was created cardinal. Following an incident occasioned by his views on *Action Française*, he resigned his cardinalate voluntarily into the hands of Pope Pius XI (H. du Passage, *Réponse à une calomnie*, in *Études*, 1932, I, 491-92) and retired to a very private life in the novitiate at Galloro (1927), where he completed his work.
B. passes into history for the depth of his intellect, the efficacy of his long magisterium, and the corpus of his publications, which represent an important stage in the development of theological thought. If in the historical and patristic field he remains inferior to the erudite Cardinal Franzelin, who preceded him at the Gregorian, in the field of speculative theology he leaves a single luminous work, by which he is linked to the best masters of classical theology.
His work embraces almost the entire field of dogmatic theology: *De Verbo Incarnato* (Rome 1892); *Les Sacrements* (2 vols., ibid. 1894-95); *De peccato personali* (ibid. 1894); *De Deo uno et trino* (ibid. 1895); *De Ecclesia* (ibid. 1900); *De virtutibus infusis* (ibid. 1909); *De novissimis* (ibid. 1902); *De inspiratione S. Scripturae* (ibid. 1903); *De sacra traditione* (ibid. 1904); *De peccato originali* (ibid. 1910); *De Gratia* (ibid. 1912, 1921).
Two series of articles are worthy of note: those that appeared first in *Études*, 1917-19: *La Parousie* (separately, Paris 1920), and *La Providence de Dieu et le nombre infini des hommes hors de la vie du salut* (ibid., 1919-23). The thesis defended therein—that even amid the most brilliant civilizations, such as those of Babylon, Athens, and Rome, the great mass of people had no possibility of arriving at the notion of the true God and of the moral law, and were therefore in a state of invincible ignorance, with all the consequences this entailed for moral responsibility and the sanctions of the future life (Études, 1920, IV, p. 535)—did not win wide assent, appearing excessive (cf. S. Harent, *Invincibles*, in *DTHC*, VII, cols. 1891-93; 1898-1912).
In this vast output B. reveals himself as a true theologian who does not repeat but rethinks all the riches of dogma, with full mastery of his material and in a personal tone. The most organic and harmonious among his treatises are those on the Trinity, the Incarnate Word, and the Most Holy Eucharist, in which the most difficult questions find a solution that may be considered definitive.
B. spoke the language of St Thomas and of the best theological tradition, understood and applauded by thousands of disciples at a moment when within the Church there was ferment over dangerous novelties that culminated in Modernism, against which he fought with dialectical vigour and solid doctrine, contributing decisively to its defeat. He was a man who had thoroughly assimilated classical theological thought along Thomistic lines, without, however, losing contact with or sensitivity to the currents of modern thought and culture.
Billiott, Edouard. - French missionary, died for the faith. Born in Villefrancon (Haute-Saône) on 3 May 1812; ordained priest in 1836, he served as vicar in Rioz, then entered the Society of Jesus in 1843. Sent to the mission in Syria in 1846, he became its superior in 1850; he was responsible for establishing a small Arabic printing press in Beirut, intended for a grand future. He had been superior of the residence in Zalle (Lebanon) for a year when the city was taken by the Druses, who killed him on 18 June 1860, along with four Jesuit lay brothers and many faithful. The beatification process for these “martyrs of Lebanon” was opened in Beirut in 1932.