Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1924-1987 (Creation)
Level of description
Subfonds
Extent and medium
1 subfonds, 3 linear meters (42 boxes and 1 wallet for large documents)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born on August 3, 1906 in Nancy, Maurice Benoît came from a family of local notables: his grandfather, Charles Benoît, a member of the first class of the French School of Athens, was dean of the Faculty of Arts in Nancy; his father, Auguste Benoît, a doctor of law, was a lawyer by profession; two of his uncles, François Geny and Georges Renard, were law professors; one of his brothers, Jacques Benoît, a biologist, was a professor at the Collège de France.
Like his elder brother Paul Benoît, he was destined for Benedictine religious life. He then took the first name of Pierre; he was ordained a priest in 1930. After studying theology at the Dominican College of Saulchoir in Kain, near Tournai (Belgium) from 1924 to 1932, then biblical studies at the Ecole Biblique est archéologique française in Jerusalem, he obtained his degree in Sacred Scripture on 22 November 1934.
At the request of Fr. Lagrange, he settled permanently at the Convent of St. Stephen in Jerusalem and became a professor at the French Biblical and Archaeological School, first of all in New Testament exegesis, then in Biblical Greek, in textual criticism of the Bible, Epistles and Gospels; at the end of his life, he was also in charge of Jerusalem's topography courses, as well as the organization of the School's archaeological excursions and trips.
Within the French Biblical and Archaeological School, his responsibilities led him to be Director of the Biblical Review from 1953 to 1968 and to take over from Fr. de Vaux as Director of the School from 1965 to 1972. He coordinates the publication of the Jerusalem Bible, in particular the New Testament, for which he is responsible, the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the Epistles of captivity, the introductions and the key notes. He also closely follows the translations of the Jerusalem Bible into foreign languages. In 1967, he published the memories of his mentor, Le P. Lagrange. In the service of the Bible. Personal memories.
A recognized specialist in biblical exegesis, he was successively appointed member of the Preparatory Commission of the Churches of the East for the Second Vatican Council on 24 August 1960, expert at the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on 27 April 1964, member of the Pontifical Commission for Neo-Vulgate on 1 June 1967, and member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1972.
An active member of several learned societies, including the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas and the French Catholic Association for the Study of the Bible, he participates in numerous international conferences and gives numerous lectures throughout the world, both in the field of Christian theology and biblical archaeology. He was also administrator of the Palestinian Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) until 1967. Maintaining close relations with Western academics, he obtained an honorary doctorate from the University of Munich in 1972 and Durham in 1977.
Author, among others of Passion and Resurrection of the Lord (1966) and Synopsis of the Four Gospels (1965), he chose to gather most of his scattered articles in a four-volume publication Exegesis and Theology, from 1961 to 1982.
Knight of the Legion of Honour by decree of 29 April 1959, he was promoted to officer of the Legion of Honour by decree of 12 July 1974.
He had been suffering from cancer for several years and died on April 23, 1987.
Archival history
When Fr. Benoît died in 1987, his archives became the property of the Priory of St. Stephen of Jerusalem from which they never left.
According to testimonies collected, Fr. Benoît allegedly destroyed some of his archives during his lifetime, in particular his personal correspondence. In the part that could be classified, the periods 1940-1954 and 1956-1970s are indeed incomplete.
All the archives of the Priory of Saint Stephen (those of the priory itself, those of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem and those of the deceased fathers) are kept in a recent archive room (inaugurated in 2001), without distinction between producers. The state of bulk prevents not only any assessment of the material importance of each of the archival holdings, but also any exhaustive treatment of its holdings in the short term.
Because the funds of the deceased fathers were mixed with their living ones and with the relocation of the archives to their new conservation room, it was difficult to define the membership of certain items in Fr. Benoît's collection. In many cases, it was necessary to rely on an empirical analysis of the writing of the documents to try to identify the author-producer.
In other cases, there was undoubted evidence that the author-producer was not Fr. Benoît. The file relating to the administration of the Palestinian Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) by Father Benoît included, for example, the correspondence of Father de Vaux on this subject; no doubt these were documents recovered by Father Benoît when he took over from Father de Vaux. They were therefore reported as belonging to the fund of P. de Vaux. On the other hand, some archaeological notebooks (courses and excursions) bear the mention of Fr. Savignac, but appear in this digital directory as part of Fr. Benoît's archival collection, insofar as his notebooks have been recovered and continued by Fr. Benoît.
This finding aid was compiled by Vincent Boully during his internship abroad, as part of his initial training as a heritage curator at the Institut national du patrimoine (Paris).
Within the time limit, only a part of the fund could be classified. In the absence of precise knowledge of the volume of P. Benoît's archival fonds, the estimation of the classified part can only be empirical: the 105 ratings described in this numerical repertoire represent between 30 and 60% of the totality of P. Benoît's fonds.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Legacies after death
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Benoît's fund could, for reasons mentioned above, only be partial. Without a prior consolidation of the archives likely to constitute Fr. Benoît's fonds allowing an overview, it is impossible to quantify precisely the proportion of the fonds classified and described in this digital directory.
In any case, the classified and described part of Fr. Benoît's archival fonds consists mainly of correspondence, both with his family and friends, as well as with publishers (mainly the editions of Le Cerf) and academics.
It is interesting to note the presence of almost all of Fr. Benoît's agendas from 1947 to 1986 and of aide-memoire notes on the events of his life from 1950 to 1985, sources that would allow the writing of a richly documented biography.
Several other dossiers are also worth mentioning for their interest in a personal history as well as in the relations of the French Ecole Biblique et archéologique de Jérusalem with the Palestinian and Israeli authorities for the conservation of the archaeological heritage. In the first perspective, we can mention the documents relating to theological studies, the decoration of the Legion of Honour and participation in various pontifical commissions. In the second perspective, the interesting dossiers of Jerusalem (guided tours, symposia, conferences, articles), Qumran and the Palestinian Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) take on all their importance.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
It is noted that as part of this classification, multiple copies of the documents (photocopies and handouts without handwritten out-of-contents) were not kept and were therefore destroyed and that the works constituting Father Benoît's personal library were extracted from the archival fonds as required.
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Couvent Saint-Etienne de Jérusalem École biblique et archéologique française, Fonds d’archives privées du père Maurice, Pierre en religion, Benoît, o.p. (1906-1987), AP 16 / 1 à 105 (1923-1987), Répertoire numérique partiel, Établi par Vincent Boully, conservateur du patrimoine stagiaire, Jérusalem, mars 2014
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Author: Vincent Boully (mars 2014)