BRUYNE, DONATIEN de. - Philologist (Latin Bible) and Benedictine patrologist, b. at Neuve-Église (West Flanders, Belgium) on 7 Oct. 1871, d. at Bruges on 5 Aug. 1935. Having taken his degree in theology at Louvain under A. Van Hoonacker (1899), he taught Sacred Scripture in the Major Seminary of Bruges (1901-1902); he then entered (1903) the Benedictine abbey of Maredsous. He soon made his mark 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 contributed excellent preparatory work, especially concerning the didactic books of the Old Testament. From 1921 to 1924 he edited the *Revue bénédictine*, in which he published about ninety articles (listed in vol. 55 [1943-44], pp. 16-19).
Noteworthy 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), and on the Gallican and Roman Psalters (1929-30). Ever 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, nor did he sympathize with his “règle de fer.” His often bold hypotheses provoked useful discussions.
He contributed numerously to various periodicals (*Collationes Bruxellenses, Revue bénédictine, Revue biblique, Analecta Bollandiana, Journal of Theological Studies, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft*). Among his works the following deserve special mention: *Les fragments de Freising* (epistles of St. Paul and Catholic epistles) (Rome 1921); *S. Augustin reviser de la Bible*, in *Miscellanea Agostiniana*, II, ibid. 1931, pp. 512-606; *Les anciennes traductions latines des Machabées* (Maredsous 1932).