DU BOIS, LOUIS-ERNEST. - Cardinal, born at St-Calais (Sarthe) on 10 Sept. 1865, died in Paris on 23 Sept. 1929. From the earliest years of his priesthood he combined the most zealous care of souls with the study of local art and history and the publication of several biographies and valuable monographs on art history. In 1893 he founded the review Union historique du Maine (now La province du Maine). He served as curate, parish priest (1895), vicar general (1898), Bishop of Verdun (18 Apr. 1901), Archbishop of Bourges (30 Nov. 1909), of Rouen (13 Mar. 1916), and of Paris (13 Sept. 1920).
On 4 Dec. 1916 he had been created Cardinal with the title of S. Maria in Aquiro. As before the war he had zealously striven to repair the damage caused by the Separation Law in the various dioceses, so during the war he promoted the union sacrée of all Frenchmen for the defence of the fatherland, and after the war he carried out numerous diplomatic missions abroad on behalf of the government, in Canada, the United States, the Levant, the Balkan countries, Czechoslovakia and Poland. This extensive activity, recognized by high honours, facilitated the rapprochement between the Church in France and the government, which led in 1924 to the establishment of diocesan associations. At the same time he devoted himself with great care to his diocese of Paris, employing all the most modern forms of apostolate.