ALEXANDRE BROU. - French Jesuit, writer, and missiologist, b. 26 Apr. 1862 at Chartres, d. at Laval on 12 Mar. 1947. After studies, largely undertaken in England because of the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, he was entrusted with the literary and spiritual formation of his young confreres at Canterbury (1894–97, 1907–10, and 1920–23), Jersey (1902–1906 and 1911–19), and Laval (1899–1901 and 1924). At the same time, he carried on a fruitful literary activity and, from 1909, collaborated with the Parisian Jesuit review *Les Études*, of which he became a member of the editorial staff in 1927, settling in Paris.
In his multifaceted output, some volumes are the fruit of his teaching, e.g., *Le Dix-huitième Siècle littéraire* (3 vols., Paris 1923–27). But his greatest activity was devoted to questions of missiology or missionary history. His biography *St François Xavier* (2 vols., Paris 1912; 2nd ed., 1913) remains highly esteemed, to which were added: *Vie populaire de St Fr. Xavier* (2nd ed., Toulouse 1914); *St Fr. Xavier. Conditions et méthodes de son apostolat* (Bruges 1925); *S. Fr. Xavier. Lettres spirituelles* (Paris 1937). He also wrote: *Les Jésuites missionnaires au XIXe siècle* (Brussels 1905), later expanded as *Jésuites missionnaires: Un siècle* (Paris 1924, in collaboration with Fr. G. Gibert) and *Cent ans de missions. Les Jésuites missionnaires au XIXe siècle* (1913). In a very different genre: *Xavierius. Essai de directeur ascétique à l'usage des missionnaires de la Compagnie de Jésus* (Toulouse 1930). In *Études*, Fr. Brou’s particular field was always missions, especially those of India and China.
He also wrote on his own Order: *Les Jésuites de la légende. Des origines à Pascal. De Pascal à nos jours* (2 vols., Paris 1906–1907), which connects with his literary studies; *Les Jésuites morts pour la France* (1911); *La Compagnie de Jésus* (1914); and several biographies: *Un Jésuite breton. Le P. Edouard Marquet* (1913); *Un soldat de la Croix, Le P. Marc Barthélémy, missionnaire dans l'Afrique du Sud* (1917); *Le P. Paul Auler, aumônier militaire* (1917–1937, in collaboration with Fr. F. Gibert).
Of a historical and ascetical nature are the following three works, which are well matured: *La spiritualité de s. Ignace* (Paris 1914); *Les Exercices Spirituels de s. Ignace. Histoire et psychologie* (1912); *S. Ignace maître d'oraison* (1915).
Finally, we may mention, apart from the main series, two hagiographical works: *S. Augustin de Cantorbéry* (Paris 1897); *Travail et prière. S. Marie-Madeleine-Sophie Barat* (1913); and a volume of meditations, *Au puit de Jacob* (Tournai 1922).