GRANDMAISON, LÉONCE de. — Jesuit, theologian, and apologist, born at Le Mans on 31 December 1868, died in Paris on 15 June 1927. He entered the Society of Jesus (1886) already resolved, a conviction that never afterward grew weaker, to defend the Church and Jesus Christ with his pen and his books against the assaults of unbelief and rationalism in their various forms and phases; for this purpose he was to draw upon his open intellect, constant application, and profound knowledge of theology, the history of religions, and psychology. Professor of apologetic theology at Fourvière, Canterbury, and Ore Place, he was called to the editorial staff of Etudes in 1908. From that year until 1919 he served as its director; and as early as 1910 he founded Recherches de science religieuse as a technical and scientific supplement to Etudes, directing it until his death. An indefatigable worker, he took part in all the most vital and thorny doctrinal questions of his time, especially those concerning Modernism.
Among his very numerous writings, published in Etudes, Recherches, Revue pratique d'apologétique, Revue d'ascé-
tique et mystique, etc., and among his books, the following should above all be recalled for their exquisite sense of proportion and serene understanding of the human spirit: La religion personnelle (Paris 1927; Italian version, Brescia 1927); La crise de la Foi chez les jeunes (Paris 1927), both valuable studies in religious psychology; Le dogme chrétien, sa nature, ses formules, son développement (ibid. 1928); Écrit spirituel (3 vols., posthumous, ibid. 1933–35), conferences, retreats, and tridua, reduced to outlines, delivered from 1912 to 1927 at the Association of S. Francesco Saverio, which he founded among women desirous of undertaking apostolic work. But the principal work, to which he devoted his entire life, studying, researching, and reworking the material and lavishing upon it not only his learning but all his love and piety, was Jésus-Christ, sa personne, ses messages, ses preuves (2 posthumous vols., edited by J. Lebreton, ibid. 1928), already prepared by the article Jésus-Christ, in DFC, II (1914), cols. 1288–1538, and by the volume Jésus-Christ dans l'histoire et dans le mystère (Paris 1927). Strictly speaking, the work is not a « life » of Jesus; rather, it is apologetic in nature and seeks to answer Jesus’ question to the Apostles: « Who do you say that I am? », examining and discussing the sources for the life of the Savior, the environment in which he lived, the religion he proclaimed, the nature of his person, and the proofs he offered to demonstrate the truth of his assertions. Within this logical and classical framework, G. poured forth his complete knowledge of the subject, avoiding nothing that had been said against it and examining everything with acumen and comprehensiveness. The work went through many editions and translations; Fr. J. Huby published an abridged edition (Paris 1930; Italian version, Brescia 1944).