VACANDARD, ELPHÈGE FLORENT. — Church historian, born 11 April 1849 at Melleville, died 23 October 1927 at Rouen. Ordained priest in 1873, from 1877 onward he served as chaplain at the Lycée Corneille in Rouen. He devoted himself in particular, and with rigorous critical method, to the study of Church history and was a frequent contributor to the *Revue des questions historiques*, the *Revue du clergé français*, and the *Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique*.
His most important works include *Vie de Saint Bernard* (Paris 1895, 7th ed. 1920); *St Victrice évêque de Rouen* (Paris 1903); *La confession sacramentale dans l'Église primitive* (ibid. 1903); *La pénitence publique dans l'Église primitive* (ibid. 1903); and a history of the Inquisition (*L'Inquisition. Étude historique et critique sur le pouvoir coercitif de l'Église*, ibid. 1907, 5th ed. 1914). From 1905 to 1923 he published in four series his *Études de critique et d'histoire religieuse*.