BRUGÈRE, LOUIS-FRÉDÉRIC. - French theologian, b. at Orléans on 8 Oct. 1823 of a humble family, and d. at Issy on 11 Apr. 1888. He completed his studies at the seminary in Orléans, taking his degree in Rome after several years of teaching at the diocesan seminary. In 1861 he entered S. Sulpizio, where from 1862 to 1886 he held the chair of Apologetics, to which in 1869 he added the teaching of ecclesiastical history. In formulating the proofs of Revelation, he attached great importance to moral arguments, from which he rose to physical and metaphysical ones, convinced that the act of faith must not only meet the requirements of reason, but must also satisfy the aspirations of the heart. Moral certainty, therefore, in his method, is no less important than physical and metaphysical certainty in leading the intellect to faith.
He wrote: De vera religione (Paris 1873-78); De vera Ecclesia (ibid. 1873-78); Tableau de l'histoire et de la littérature de l'église (in 4°, lithographed for the use of the seminarians of S. Sulpizio in 4 vols.).