BILLOT, LOUIS. — An eminent figure among modern theologians, born at Sierck (Metz) on 12 January 1846 and died at Galloro (Rome) on 18 December 1931. He pursued theological studies in the seminaries of Metz and Blois, was ordained a priest in 1869, and immediately afterward entered the Society of Jesus at Angers. He taught Sacred Scripture at Laval, then dogmatic theology at Angers, from where he moved to Jersey. In 1885 he was summoned to Rome, to the Gregorian University, where, apart from a brief interruption, he held the chair of dogmatic theology until 1911, when he was made a cardinal. Following an incident occasioned by his views on Action Française, he spontaneously renounced his cardinalitial dignity into the hands of Pope Pius XI (H. du Passage, Reponse à une calomnie, in Etudes, 1932, I, 491-92) and retired to a most private life in the novitiate at Galloro (1927), where his industrious life came to an end.
B. passed into history for the depth of his intellect, the effectiveness of his long teaching career, and the body of his publications, which represent an important stage in the development of theological thought. Although in the historical and patristic field he remains inferior to the erudite Cardinal Franzelin, who preceded him at the Gregorian University, in the field of theological speculation he leaves a luminous trail, linking him with the finest masters of classical theology.
His work embraces almost the entire field of dogmatic theology: De Verbo Incarnato (Rome 1892); De Sacramentis (2 vols., ibid. 1894-95); De peccato personali (ibid. 1894); De Deo uno et trino (ibid. 1895); De Ecclesia (ibid. 1900); De virtutibus infusi (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 published first in Etudes, 1917-19, deserve mention: 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 there—that even amid the most brilliant civilizations, such as those of Babylon, Athens, and Rome, “for the great mass of people there was no possibility whatsoever of attaining to the notion of the true God and of the law, and that consequently they found themselves in a state of invincible ignorance, with all the consequences that follow from it with regard to moral responsibility and the sanctions of the future life” (Etudes, 1920, IV, p. 535)—did not win much support, because it appeared excessive (cf. S. Harent, Jufidèles, in DThC, VII, cols. 1891-93; 1898-1912).
In this vast work B. reveals himself as a true theologian, who does not repeat but rethinks all the riches of dogma, with complete mastery of the subject and in a personal style. The most organic and harmonious of his treatises are De Deo trino, De Verbo Incarnato, and De S. ma Eucharistia, in which the most difficult questions find a solution that may be regarded as definitive.
B. spoke the language of St. Thomas and of the finest theological tradition, understood and applauded by thousands of disciples, at a moment when within the Church the spirit of dangerous novelties was seething, issuing in modernism, against which he fought with dialectical vigor and soundness of doctrine, helping to crush it forever. 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.