BRUYNE, DONATIEN de. - Benedictine philologist (of the Latin Bible) and patrologist, b. at Neuve-Eglise (West Flanders, Belgium) on 7 Oct. 1871, d. at Bruges on 5 Aug. 1935. Having earned his doctorate in theology at Louvain under A. Van Hoonacker (1899), he taught Sacred Scripture at the Major Seminary of Bruges (1901-1902); he then entered (1903) the Benedictine abbey of Maredsous. He soon commanded the attention of scholars with his writings and "made an epoch" (A. von Harnack). Decisive was his appointment to the Pontifical Commission for the revision of the Vulgate (1907), to which he soon contributed excellent preparatory works, especially concerning the didactic books of the Old Testament. From 1921 to 1924 he directed the Revue bénédictine, in which he published about 90 articles (listed in vol. 55 [1943-44], pp. 16-19).
Worthy of emphasis are his studies on the biblical prologues of Marcionite and anti-Marcionite origin (1907 and 1928), on the "Vetus Latina" of the Song of Songs (1926), on the Gallican and Roman Psalter (1929-30). Always in search of "membra disiecta," he became an authority on the "Vetus Latina," the Vulgate, patrology (especially on St. Jerome and St. Augustine), and textual criticism. He did not always share the principles of textual criticism of H. Quentin, and he was not sympathetic to his "règle de fer." His hypotheses, often bold, gave rise to useful discussions.
His contributions to various periodicals were numerous (Collationes Brugenses, Revue bénédictine, Revue biblique, Analecta hollandiana, Journal of Theological Studies, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft). Among his works, particular mention should be made of: Les fragments de Freising (épîtres de s. Paul et épîtres catholiques) (Rome 1921); S. Augustin reviseur de la Bible, in Miscellanea Agostiniana, II, ibid. 1931, pp. 512-606; Les anciennes traductions latines des Machabies (Maredsous 1932).