BRAUN, JOSEPH. - German art historian and archaeologist, born at Wipperfürth in the Rhineland on 31 Jan. 1857, died at Pullach on 11 July 1947. A Jesuit from 4 Oct. 1890, he taught art history in the theological faculties of the Order at Valkenburg (Holland) and Frankfurt am Main; and was awarded an honoris causa doctorate by the Universities of Münster and Munich for his fundamental archaeological and liturgical works. With his publications on the churches of the Society of Jesus, he demolished the theory of the so-called “Jesuit style.”
His most important works are: Die Liturgische Gewandung im Okzident und Orient (1907); Die Belgischen Jesuitenkirchen (1907); Die Kirchenbauten der deutschen Jesuiten (I, 1908; II, 1910); Handbuch der Paramentik (1912), translated into Italian; Spaniens alte Jesuitenkirchen (1913); Liturgik (1920); Meisterwerke der deutschen Goldschmiedekunst der vorgotischen Zeit (1922); Der christliche Altar (2 vols., 1924); Das Altargerät in seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung (1931); Die Reliquiare des christlichen Kults und ihre Entwicklung (1940); Tracht und Attribute der Heiligen in der Deutschen Kunst (1943).