Marie-Joseph Lagrange

Marie-Joseph Lagrange was a Catholic priest in the Dominican Order, theologian and founder of the École Biblique in Jerusalem. He was born on March 7, 1855, in Bourg-en-Bresse, France. He received a doctorate in law from Paris before entering the Dominican novitiate in 1879. He was ordained a priest in 1883 and taught church history and holy scripture in Spain and France. He was sent to Vienna to improve his knowledge of Oriental languages and studied Assyrian, Egyptian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Rabbinical literature. In 1889, he was sent to Jerusalem, where he opened the École Pratique d’Études Bibliques (Practical School of Biblical Studies) in 1890. He also founded the Revue Biblique, a scholarly journal of biblical studies, in 1892. Lagrange was a pioneer of the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation, which applied historical and literary analysis to the biblical texts. He wrote numerous books and articles on various aspects of the Old and New Testaments, such as the historical method, textual criticism, the sources of the Pentateuch, the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Luke, the Epistle to the Romans, and the Book of Revelation. He also conducted archaeological research in Palestine and Egypt. Lagrange faced some opposition and suspicion from some authorities in the Church who considered his approach too modernist and rationalist. He was censured several times and had to withdraw from some of his publications. However, he always remained faithful and obedient to the Church and to his Dominican order. He was recognized as an exemplary scholar and a pioneer of Catholic biblical studies by many of his contemporaries and successors. Lagrange died on March 10, 1938, in Saint-Maximin, France, where he had returned for health reasons. His remains were buried in Jerusalem in the Basilica of St. Stephen, where he had spent most of his life. His cause for beatification was opened in 1988.