VICTOR-MARTIAL LEROQUAIS. French priest, liturgist, b. at St-Germain-de-Tallevende (diocese of Bayeux, department of Calvados) on 7 Sept. 1875, d. in Paris on 1 March 1946. He began his studies at Vire (1887) and completed them successfully at the Seminary of St Sulpice in Paris (1900). Ordained priest on 9 June 1900, he exercised the pastoral ministry in his diocese for twelve years before settling in Paris to devote himself to scholarly research. He was honorary canon of Notre-Dame (15 Jan. 1938) and vice-president, in recognition of his merits in the field of liturgical studies, of the Henry Bradshaw Society of London (1939). The pious and learned L., who left scholars—especially those interested in liturgy—tools of primary importance, rests in the small parish of Bény-sur-Mer, where he served as zealous parish priest from 1906 to 1912.
Initially L.’s research aimed to illustrate the historical-liturgical development of the Holy Mass, but soon extended to the content and ornamentation of the principal liturgical books. He became a specialist and master in their description, and, thanks to his vast historical, palaeographical and liturgical culture, he was able to grasp all the peculiarities likely to interest scholars. The information he devoted to each manuscript, sober yet exhaustive, is always presented with impeccable method: a manuscript analysed by L. holds no further secrets for other scholars. He possessed a fine artistic taste, evident both in the choice of plates (over 1,500) that adorn even his shortest studies and in the elegant typography with which he presented his great catalogues, almost always published at his own expense, given publishers’ distrust of such publications. He made several complete tours of all the public libraries in France: e.g., from late 1912 to 1914, from 1919 to 1923, from 1929 to 1933, etc. The material he collected and verified from the originals is truly vast, as evidenced by the following substantial publications (about fifteen smaller ones are omitted): *Les sacramentaires et missels manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France* (3 vols. in-4° of text and 1 of plates, Paris 1924), in which 914 manuscripts from the 7th–8th to the 18th centuries are described (cf. supplement, another 10 manuscripts from the 12th century, inserted in vol. V of the *Bréviaires*, pp. 420–41, and supplement added to vol. II of the *Pontificaux*, pp. 429–62); *Les Livres d’Heures manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale* (2 vols. in-4° of text and 1 of plates, ibid. 1927), in which 313 manuscripts, delightful for their content and ornamentation, from the 12th to the 17th centuries are described, followed by the *Supplement aux Livres d’Heures manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale* (1 vol. in-4° with plates, ibid. 1943), describing new acquisitions; *Le Bréviaire de Philippe le Bon. Bréviaire Parisien du XVe siècle* (2 vols. in-4° of text, 1 of plates, Brussels 1929), an important manuscript probably illuminated by G. Vrelant; *Les Bréviaires manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France* (5 vols. in-4° of text, 1 of plates, Paris 1934), in which 1,034 manuscripts from the 11th century onwards are described; *Les Pontificaux manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France* (3 vols. in-4° of text, 1 of plates, ibid. 1937), in which 233 manuscripts from the 9th to the 16th centuries are described; *Les Psautiers manuscrits latins des bibliothèques publiques de France* (2 vols. in-4° of text, 1 of plates, Mâcon 1940–41), in which 472 manuscripts from the 6th to the 18th centuries are described (another 23 manuscripts are described in an appendix: breviaries, books of hours, etc.). Finally, he left ready for publication the edition of the important *Sacramentaire de Gellone*, which will be published under the care of the Bibliothèque nationale under the direction of Dom Hesbert, O.S.B. (to meet the costs of this two-volume edition with plates, L. heroically pledged his own library), and the Carolingian *Evangeliare* of François II, ms. lat. 257 of the Bibliothèque nationale. Of great importance are the dense introductions prefaced to his catalogues, in which he studies the genetic and artistic developments of the Missal, Breviary, Pontifical, Psalter and Book of Hours. His cordiality towards scholars or students who sought his advice is proverbial.
LÉRINS — View of the abbey. The buildings are modern.