ECOLE BIBLIQUE. – The first Catholic centre for scientific biblical studies, founded by the Dominican M.-J. Lagrange in Jerusalem in 1890, at the suggestion of Leo XIII to Fr. M. Leconte, who purchased the land and built the convent beside the ruins of the ancient basilica of S. Stefano. Under Lagrange’s brilliant and indefatigable direction, courses in exegesis, introduction, and all the ancillary subjects (languages, history, geography, archaeology, history of religions, etc.) relating to the Bible and to the ancient cultures connected with it began on 15 November 1890. Lagrange was assisted by selected confrères from the Order’s three French provinces. Lectures on Palestinian and Oriental studies accompanied the aforementioned courses from the outset; a large library was quickly enriched with the most valuable ancient and modern works; an archaeological museum received the fruits of important discoveries. Students of every order, priests and laymen of every nation, flocked to the E. b.
In 1892 publication began of the Revue Biblique, for the dissemination of the research and studies of the professors of the E. b. Rigorously scientific, it embraces all the specialities of the biblical field (cf. Leo XIII’s letter to Fr. Lagrange: Hierosalpinus in coenobis, of 17 September 1892, in Revue Biblique, 2 [1893], pp. 1–3). In 1902 the exegetical series Etudes Bibliques was launched, announced in Revue Biblique, 9 (1900), pp. 114–22: “We need Catholic commentaries based on a good translation of the originals from a carefully reconstructed critical text, with special application to literary criticism... It will above all be an explanation of the text...” (ibid., p. 422). This programme is also that of the E. b.: “exact knowledge of the text, the cultivation of the literal sense, the search for the complete thought and for the nuances of the sacred authors” (Spice), making use of all the results and methods of scientific research (cf. the encyclicals Providentissimus [1893] and Divino afflante Spiritu [1943]).
The E. attributed particular importance to archaeological explorations in Palestine and neighbouring regions, in Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Its contribution in this field is noteworthy, as the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres recognised when, in 1920, it entrusted to it the Ecole française archéologique of Jerusalem. The fruit of so much work appears chiefly in the formation of excellent exegetes and specialists in the various branches, in the undiminished importance of the Revue Biblique, in the grand works of the invaluable series Etudes Bibliques (volumes by Frs. Lagrange, Dhorne, Abel, Allo, etc.), and in the archaeological studies of Frs. Vincent, Abel, Jaussen and Savignac. The E. b. has fully fulfilled its mission, acting as a ferment in the movement for the scientific study of the Bible during the first half of our century.