FOUARD, HENRI-CONSTANT. - Priest, biblical scholar, b. at Elbeuf (Rouen) on 6 Aug. 1837, d. there on 3 Dec. 1903. During his theological studies in Paris, at the Seminary of St. Sulpice, he had as his professor the abbé A. Le Hir, who initiated him and his companion F. Vigouroux into the biblical sciences, to which both subsequently devoted their whole lives. Having obtained the licentiate in letters, in Paris, in 1867, he was first professor of literature (1867-76) at Boisguillaume, then of Sacred Scripture in the theological Faculty of Rouen. A doctor in theology in 1877, he was named in 1884 canon of the cathedral of Rouen and in 1903 a member of the Biblical Commission.
The fruit of his studies, of his travels in the East and also of his piety, are the six volumes, to which he gave the title: Les origines de l'Église, and which he intended to constitute a response to the works written on the same subject by E. Renan, himself also a pupil of the abbé Le Hir. Here are the titles of the volumes: Vie de N.-S. Jeans-Christ (2 vols., Paris 1880); St Pierre et les premières années du christianisme (ibid. 1886); St Paul et ses missions (ibid. 1892); St Paul, ses dernières années (ibid. 1897); St Jean et la fin de l'âge apostolique (posthumous; ibid. 1904).
The work, which had many editions and versions (Italian vers., Turin 1909-14) is still esteemed and read for the narrative composed in a very interesting manner, for the accuracy of the information and for a lively sense, one might say, of devotion. The bibliography, however, has unfortunately remained unaltered.