Durand, Alfred

DURAND, ALFRED. - Jesuit, exegete, b. at Chantemerle (Drôme) on 12 March 1858; d. at Lyon on 31 July 1928. He studied Semitic languages and Egyptology in Rome and Paris; then he held the chair of Sacred Scripture in the Jesuit studentate of the province of Lyon (1879-1923). From that year until his death he devoted himself to preaching, especially of the spiritual exercises to priests.

His writings, widely scattered in journals (Etudes, Recherches de science religieuse, Revue biblique, Revue apologétique, etc., and in the great ecclesiastical dictionaries), reveal a rich store of information, offered in a clear style, with judicious discretion and prudent assessments, and they touch on the principal biblical questions debated in his time. Of his works, worthy of note are: L'enfance de J. C. (Paris 1908); L'Evangile de st Mathieu (ibid. 1924) and L'Evangile de st Jean (ibid. 1927), both in the collection Verbum salutis.