SCHWALM, BENOÎT. - Dominican theologian and philosopher, born in Nancy on Oct. 15, 1860, died at Pass-Prest (St. Paul du Var) on Nov. 17, 1908. He became a religious in 1878, studied at Flavigny, Belmonte (Spain), and Valders (Tyrol); he taught philosophy at Corbara (1884-86) and sociology at Flavigny (1893-99).
He dealt particularly with the social problems of the time, which he studied in depth 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 a political and social standpoint, socialism, the right of property, and the relationship between the individual and society in La science sociale (1892-94) and in Revue thomiste (1894-1898). His thought on the subject of sociology is collected in Leçons de philosophie sociale (2 vols., Paris 1911). He also addressed with a sense of balance and rigorous orthodoxy the problems of the new apologetics and the philosophy of immanence; notable 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 Modernist errors.