BILLUART, CHARLES-RENÉ. - Thomist theologian, b. at Revin on the Meuse (Ardennes) on 8 Jan. 1685, d. there on 20 Jan. 1757. A Dominican (1701), he was five times prior in the convent of Revin, and three times provincial of Belgium. He taught at Douai (1710), at Revin (1711-15), then again at Douai, where he was successively master of students (1715), bachelor (1717-19), vice-regent (1719-21) and regent (1725).
His principal work is the Summa s. Thomae hodiernis Academiarum moribus accommodata (19 vols., Liège 1746-51); to which he had follow the Supplementum cursus theologiae continens tractatus de opere sex dierum, de statu religioso et de mysteriis Christi (published posthumously, ibid. 1759, by his confrere and friend P. A. Labye, who prefaced it with a brief Vita of B.). To make it more easily accessible, from this work, which had many editions, he himself compiled an abridgment: Summa Summae s. Thomae sive compendium theologiae (6 vols., ibid. 1754, Ghent, Würzburg 1765, Venice 1788, Rome 1834, Paris 1884-90, Mondovì 1903). He also wrote various polemical pamphlets in defense of St. Thomas and his doctrine, especially concerning the problem of predestination and grace. We recall: Le Thomisme vengé de sa prétendue condamnation par la constitution Unigenitus (Brussels 1720); Lettre du p. C.R.B. à MM. les docteurs de la faculté de théologie de l'université de Douai (s. l. 1723); Le Thomisme triomphant par le bref « Demissus preces » de Benoît XIII (s. n. 1.); Apologie du Thomisme triomphant contre les neuf lettres anonymes qui ont paru depuis peu etc. (Liège 1731). He also left two volumes of sermons, edited by H. Lelièvre: Sermons (Paris 1846). B. was the most illustrious Thomist of his time and perhaps the best known and most esteemed theologian of the 19th century. Even in our own day his Summa is one of the most consulted manuals of theology. This fame is justly due to him for his absolute fidelity to the doctrine of St. Thomas, the clarity of his exposition and the precision of his language.
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Alfonso D'Amato