LAMY, THOMAS-JOSEPH. — Biblical exegete and Orientalist, born at Ohey (Belgium) on 27 January 1827, died at Louvain on 30 July 1907. He taught biblical exegesis and Oriental languages at the University of Louvain from 1875 to 1900. He succeeded Mons. Th. Beelen; upon his retirement from teaching, he was replaced by P. Ladeuze and A. Van Hoonacker. An outstanding polymath, L. took part with learned vigour in the controversy against E. Renan.
His Introduction aux Ecritures Saintes (Malines 1867; 6th ed. there 1901) was highly esteemed and widely circulated. L.’s principal merit was to keep the tradition of Oriental studies alive within the University of Louvain. He helped to found the Louvain patristic school by publishing, though with little critical rigour, the works of St. Ephrem and other texts of Oriental patrology.