LA BROISE, RENÉ. - Jesuit, theologian, born at Laval on 26 March 1860, died there on 10 February 1906. Prefect of studies at the Jesuit Scholasticate in Jersey, he exercised a wise and discreet but firm and inspiring guidance over the philosophy students.
His doctoral theses: Bossuet et la Bible (Paris 1890) and Manenti Claudiani vita eiusque doctrina de anima hominis (ibid. 1890) met with the best and unanimous praise. To him is largely due the work, intended as a homage to Jesus the Redeemer: Un siècle. Mouvement du monde de 1800 à 1900 (3 vols., ibid. 1900), in which various authors review all fields of political, literary and religious culture. La B. contributed to it: La religion et les religions (cf. III, pp. 1-31). In 1899 he was called to teach theology at the Institut catholique in Paris, where he won the esteem and affection of all, colleagues and students alike, for the wonderful clarity, profound erudition and methodical treatment of his lectures. But already the following year, owing to very poor health, he had to leave the chair and retire to Laval.
Yet he was not idle there, for he composed and published a Vie de la Ste Vierge (Paris 1904, Italian ed., Rome 1909), which in his intention was to be the compendium of a much vaster work, furnished 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, keen psychologist and all his sensitive and devoted heart. He also collaborated from 1896 until the period of the Études.