LA BROISE, RENÉ. - Jesuit, theologian, b. at Laval on 26 March 1860, d. there on 10 February 1906. Prefect of studies at the Scholasticate of Jersey, he was able to exercise over the students of philosophy a wise and discreet, yet firm and inspiring guidance.
His doctoral theses, Bossuet et la Bible (Paris 1890) and Mameri Claudiani vita eiusque doctrina de anima hominis (there 1890), received the highest and unanimous praise. He was also largely responsible for the work intended as a homage to Jesus the Redeemer: Un siècle. Mouvement du monde de 1800 à 1900 (3 vols., there 1900), in which various authors survey all fields of political, literary, and religious culture. La B. wrote for it: La religion et les religions (cf. III, pp. 1–31). In 1899 he was appointed professor of theology at the Institut catholique in Paris, where he won the esteem and affection of all, colleagues and pupils alike, through his remarkable clarity, profound learning, and methodical exposition. But the following year, because of his extremely frail health, he had to leave his chair and retire to Laval.
He did not, however, remain idle there, for he composed and published a Vie de la Ste Vierge (Paris 1904, Italian trans., Rome 1900), which in his intention was to be the compendium of a much more extensive work, provided with all the necessary scholarly apparatus. This life, rich in ideas, viewpoints, facts, and explanations, reproduces, despite its brevity, all his qualities as a conscientious researcher, profound theologian, discerning ascetic and psychologist, as well as all his sensitive and devout heart. From 1896 he also contributed to the periodical Études.