PETIT, LOUIS. - Assumptionist, Archbishop of Athens, b. 21 Feb. 1868 at Viuz-la-Chésaz (Savoia), d. 5 Nov. 1927 at Menton. Ordained priest in 1891, in 1895 he became superior of the Greek Seminary and of the House of Oriental Studies established at Kadi-Keuï, ancient Chalcedon.
Devoting himself to the study of Byzantine ecclesiastical history, he amassed a rich specialized library, now preserved in the Vatican Library. The review *Echos d'Orient*, whose first issue appeared in Oct. 1897 and which he directed for more than ten years, represents only in part his scientific activity. The result of research conducted with others in the monasteries of Mount Athos was the *Recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de l'Athos* (Paris 1904) and *Les chartes des monastères grecs* (5 vols., ibid. 1903-11). Having moved to Rome in 1908, his expertise convinced Cardinal Gotti, then Prefect of Propaganda, to propose him in 1912 as Archbishop of Athens and Apostolic Delegate for Greece, and he influenced the foundation of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches and the Pontifical Oriental Institute in 1917. In 1926 he resigned his office and received the titular archiepiscopal see of Corinth. He oversaw the continuation of the *Amplissima collectio conciliorum* of Mansi: from 1905 to 1906 he prepared all the volumes relating to the synods of the Eastern Church, as well as the five on the Vatican Council of 1869-1870. Notable also is his *Bibliographie des acolouthies grecques* (Brussels 1926).