Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Jean-Jacques Bourassé

by Martin Augustine Waldron

Archæologist and historian, b. at Ste.-Maure (Indre-et-Loire), France, 22 December, 1813; d. at tours, 4 October, 1872. He made his preparatory studies for the priesthood in Paris. In 1835, he taught the natural sciences at the preparatory seminary of Tours, where he began a course of archæology that soon attracted attention. The results achieved by him in a field of research, then comparatively new, were such as to entitle him to be considered a veritable pioneer in France, of the science of Christian archæology. In 1884 he became professor at the grand séminaire and held the chair of dogmatic theology there for six years. He then discontinued teaching in order to devote himself entirely to the preparation of his various archæological works. Among the productions published by him the best known are: "Archéologie Chrétienne" (1841); "Les Cathédrales de France" (1843); "Les plus belles églises du monde" (1857); "Recherches hist. et archéol. sur les églises romaines en Touraine" (1869).

BUCHBERGER, Kirchliches-Handlexicon, I, 116: VIGOUROUX in Dict. de la Bible, I, 1894; CHEVALIER, L'abbé Bourassé in Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Touraine (1873), II 377-423.

M. J. Waldron.