SCHWALM, BENOÎT. - Theologian and democratic philosopher, b. at Nancy on 15 Oct. 1860, d. at Pass-Prest (St. Paul du Var) on 17 Nov. 1908. He entered religious life in 1878, studied at Flavigny, at Belmonte (Spain) and at Valders (Tyrol); he taught philosophy at Corbara (1884-86) and sociology at Flavigny (1893-99).
He devoted particular attention to the social problems of his time, which he explored and sought to resolve in the light of Thomistic philosophy, demonstrating its modernity. He wrote many articles on the conditions of the clergy, the position of the Church from the political and social point of view, socialism, the right to property, and the relations between the individual and society, in *La Science sociale* (1892-94) and in the *Revue thomiste* (1894-1898). His thought on matters of sociology is collected in *Leçons de philosophie sociale* (2 vols., Paris 1911). He also addressed, with a balanced sense and rigorous orthodoxy, the problems of the new apologetics and of the philosophy of immanence; notable among his works are: *L'Acte de foi est-il raisonnable?*, in *Revue thomiste*, 4 (1896), pp. 36-63; *Les illusions de l'idéalisme et leurs dangers pour la foi*, ibid., pp. 413-41; he also wrote: *La vie privée des juifs à l'époque de Jésus-Christ* (Paris 1910); *Le Christ d'après st. Thomas d'Aquin* (ibid. 1910). S. was one of the first to combat the errors of Modernism.