DELATTRE, Alfred-Louis. Archaeologist, b. at Deville in the diocese of Rouen on 26 June 1850, d. at Carthage on 11 January 1932. In 1874 he entered the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) and was soon sent by Cardinal Lavigerie to Carthage, where he made the ancient African metropolis his home and the field, not only of his religious ministry, but also of his archaeological research. His name is indeed linked to the exploration of Carthage, and in particular to its Christian remains. To him are owed the discovery and excavation of the vast complex of Damus-el-Karita, as well as the other basilicas of St Cyprian and of SS Perpetua and Felicity (or basilica maiorum), and also Punic tombs and pagan monuments such as the amphitheatre, the so-called Wall of Amphorae, etc.
From the numerous finds there arose, in the same house of the White Fathers near the Primatial Church, the Lavigerie Museum, which in its three sections—Punic, Roman and Christian—illustrates the entire secular history of the city. Delattre compiled its catalogue, published in the series *Catalogues des musées de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie* (Paris 1899–1900). He also wrote other works to illustrate the many excavations he had conducted; one on Christian lamps, published in instalments first in *Missions catholiques* (1880), then in the *Revue de l'art chrétien* (1890–92), and partly reissued as a separate pamphlet; another, occasioned by the discovery of some interesting Carthaginian reliefs, on *Le culte de la Ste Vierge en Afrique d'après les monuments archéologiques* (Paris-Lille 1907). The critical rigour of these writings does not always match the fervour that Delattre had shown in his fieldwork. He died at Carthage, having lived to see the Christian revival of the city, which he had so ardently promoted, crowned by the International Eucharistic Congress of 1930. He was a corresponding member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and of the Pontifical Academy of Archaeology (v. G. P. Kirsch, in *Riv. arch. crist.*, 9 [1932], pp. 159 ff).