Ordained a priest in 1897, the following year he began teaching dogmatic theology at the seminary in Nancy, and through particular investigations into the historical development of dogma gave positive substance to the theses of scholastic theology, especially those concerning the Sacraments. The mature fruit of this work are the extensive articles Confirmation, Eucharistie dans l'Ecriture, Extrême Onction, Messe dans l'Ecriture et dans les Pères jusqu'à st Irénée, published in the DThC. Vicar general and coadjutor to his bishop, Mons. Turinaz (1907-14), military chaplain during the war (1914-18), he succeeded him in 1918. Transferred to Strasbourg at the delicate moment of Alsace’s return to France, Mons. Ruch, with steadfast prudence, asserted himself as the defender of the finest religious traditions of the region; in the war of 1939-45, alongside fervent patriotic spirit, he exercised charity.
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