MANDONNET, PIERRE. - Church historian and medieval theologian, born at Beaumont (Puy-de-Dôme) on 26 Feb. 1858, died at Saulchoir on 4 Jan. 1936. He entered the Dominican Order (1882; priest in 1887) and taught (1891-1918) at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He served as dean of the Faculty of Theology (1893-94, 1906-1907) and rector of the University (1902-1903). In 1919 he settled near Paris, later (1927) at Saulchoir. In 1932 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Sacred Heart University of Milan.
Works: 1) Studies on the history of doctrines: principal among them, Siger de Brabant et l'averroïsme latin au XIIIe siècle (2 vols., 2nd ed., Louvain 1908, 1911); Dante et les théologiens (2nd ed., Paris 1935); Le décret d'Innocent XI contre le probabilisme (ibid. 1903). 2) Thomistic studies: fundamental is Des écrits authentiques de St Thomas d'Aquin (2nd ed., Fribourg 1910). A biography of St Thomas by him was published almost in its entirety in the Revue des jeunes (1919-20) and in the Revue thomiste (1925), which he founded together with Fr. Th. Coconnier at Fribourg in 1893. His Bibliographie thomiste (in collaboration with J. Destrez, Paris 1921) is still continued by the Bulletin thomiste, which he founded at Saulchoir in 1924, along with the Bibliothèque, the Société (1922), and the Institut historique d'études thomistes. 3) Dominican history: Les Dominicains et la découverte de l'Amérique (Paris 1893) and numerous articles. Also: St Dominique, l'idée, l'homme et l'oeuvre (with M. H. Vicaire and R. Ladner, 2nd ed., 2 vols., ibid. 1938).
A characteristic of Mandonnet as a historian is the breadth and balance of his perspective. He approaches his subject from above and goes straight to the central problem, grasping its essential aspects with demanding, never pedantic erudition. Denifle (v.) Ehrle (v.), he left a lasting mark on the history of Aristotelianism and the theological currents of the 13th century and on the study of St Thomas.