BAUDRILLART, HENRI MARIE ALFRED

Cardinal, scholar, educator, diplomat; b. Paris, Jan. 6, 1859; d. Paris, May 19, 1942. Trained in history, he received a doctor of letters degree in 1890. As a lay teacher he taught at schools in Laval, Caen, and Paris, and in 1883 became affiliated with the Institut Catholique. After joining the Oratory in 1890, he was ordained on July 9, 1893, and two years later he received his doctorate in theology and returned to the Institut Catholique as professor (1894–1907). In 1907 he became rector of the Institut Catholique, which he built into a first-class institution. He was made titular bishop of Himeria (1921), titular archbishop of Melitene (1928), and cardinal priest (1935). Baudrillart continued his scholarly researches and served as diplomatic representative of the Holy See. He was instrumental in the resumption of French diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1921; in his diplomatic capacity he traveled in Europe, Africa, and North and South America, and twice he visited the United States. He was made a member of the Académie Française in 1918, a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1920, and commander of the Légion in 1935. Among his publications were Philippe V et la cour de France (5 v. Paris 1890–1901); L'Église catholique, la Renaissance, le protestantisme (Paris 1904), tr. into Eng. by Mrs. Philip Gibbs as The Catholic Church, the Renaissance and Protestantism (New York 1908); Vie de Mgr. d'Hulst (2v. Paris 1912–14); Lettres du duc de Bourgogne au roi d'Espagne (2 v. Paris 1912–16); and La France, les catholiques et le guerre (Paris 1917). Perhaps his most important scholarly contribution was the initial organization and publication of the Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques.

Bibliography: v. carriere, Le Cardinal Baudrillart, 1859–1942 (Paris 1942). a. guny, Catholicisme 1:1316–17. v. l. saulnier, Dictionnaire de biographie française (Paris 1929—) 5:893–895.

[v. l. bullough]