GRANDMAISON, LÉONCE de. - Jesuit, theologian, and apologist, b. at Le Mans on 31 Dec. 1868, d. at Paris on 15 June 1927. He entered the Society of Jesus (1886) already with the unshaken resolve to defend, with his pen and his books, the Church and Jesus Christ from the assaults of unbelief and rationalism in its various forms and phases; to this end he would employ his open intellect, his constant application, and the profound knowledge he had acquired of theology, the history of religions, and psychology. Professor of apologetic theology at Foursière, Canterbury, and Ore Place, he was called to the editorial staff of *Études* in 1908. From that year until 1919 he assumed its direction; and already in 1910 he founded *Recherches de science religieuse*, as a technical and scientific supplement to *Études*, directing it until his death. An indefatigable worker, he took part in all the most lively and thorny doctrinal questions of his time, especially those concerning Modernism.
Among his numerous writings, scattered in *Études*, *Recherches*, *Revue pratique d'apologétique*, *Revue d'ascétique et mystique*, etc., and in his books, the following deserve special mention for their exquisite sense of measure and serene understanding of the human soul: *La religion personnelle* (Paris 1927; Ital. trans. 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); *Écrits spirituels* (3 vols., posthumous, ibid. 1933–35), conferences, retreats, and triduums reduced to outlines, delivered from 1912 to 1927 to the Association of St. Francis Xavier, which he had founded among ladies desirous of apostolic work. But the principal work, to which he devoted his entire life, studying, researching, and refining its material and pouring into it not only his learning but all his love and piety, was *Jésus-Christ, sa personne, ses messages, ses preuves* (2 vols., posthumous, ed. 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). The work is not, strictly speaking, a “life” of Jesus; rather, it is of an apologetic nature and seeks to answer Jesus’ question to the Apostles: “Whom do you say that I am?” by examining and discussing the sources for the life of the Saviour, the environment in which He lived, the religion He proclaimed, the nature of His person, and the proofs He adduced to demonstrate His assertions. In this logical and classical framework, G. poured his full knowledge of the subject, omitting nothing that had been said against it, examining everything with acumen and thoroughness. The work went through many editions and translations; Fr. J. Huby published a shortened edition (Paris 1930; Ital. trans. Brescia 1944).