**ERNEST HELLO** – French writer, b. at Lorient on 4 Nov. 1828, d. there on 15 Apr. 1885. He practised law for a short time, then devoted himself to philosophical and theological studies, retiring to the Château of Kéro-man, where he spent the rest of his life. His activity as essayist, narrator, philosopher, and Christian apologist found expression in books that were little understood by his contemporaries.
**Works:** *Physionomie des Saints* (Paris 1858); *M. Renan, l'Allemagne et l'athéisme au XIXe siècle* (ibid. 1858); *M. Renan et la Vie de Jésus* (ibid. 1863); *L'homme* (ibid. 1872); *Les paroles de Dieu* (ibid. 1877); *Du néant à Dieu* (2 vols., ibid. 1921). He also translated several works by mystics (Ruysbroeck, Angela da Foligno, etc.). A powerful, mystical, and at times apocalyptic writer, he reacted against the ideas of his age with a zeal equal to that of the Church’s adversaries. A close friend of L. Veuillot, he shared the latter’s intransigence, though without his polemical vigour and without participating in public life. In *L'homme* he offered a Christian interpretation of human essence through a series of analyses of the life, science, and art of his century. Notable in this work is his relentless polemic against the mediocre man—he who is always deferential to public opinion, respectful of his neighbour who has attained “celebrity,” he who deems Christianity “useful” yet inwardly hates and would deny it with “sweet-sounding words,” he who feels repugnance for Catholicism judged too intransigent and sympathy for Protestantism deemed “more moderate.”