(BERCHOIRE, BERSUIRE).

A learned French Benedictine, b. 1290 at St. Pierre du Chemin (Vendee); d. 1362 at Paris. He joined the Order of St. Benedict at Maillezais, later lived at Avignon for a period of twelve years with Cardinal Peter de Pratis, Bishop of Praeneste, and in 1354 was made prior of St. Eligius at Paris. He was an eloquent preacher and a voluminous homiletical writer. His most important work is the "Repertorium morale", for the use of preachers, a kind of Biblico-moral dictionary, in which the principal words of Scripture are arranged alphabetically and moral reflections attached thereto. It appeared some time before 1355 and was dedicated to Cardinal de Pratis. The "Repertorium" proved to be one of the most popular books of its kind and was frequently printed first at Cologne in 1477, and again at Nuremberg (1489), Lyons (1517), Paris (1521), Venice (1589), Antwerp (1609), etc. A French translation by Richard Leblanc appeared at Paris in 1584. Other works of Bercheure are: "Reductorium morale" to the Sacred Scriptures in thirty-four books, embracing all the books of the Bible , printed at Strasburg in 1474, Basle (1515), Lyons (1536); "Inductorium morale biblicum"; sixteen books on God and the world; and a French translation (the earliest) of Livy, made about 1350 at the request of King John the Good published at Paris in 1514 in three volumes. His "Inductorium morale biblicum", commentaries, discourses, letters, and other treatises, have never been printed. Editions of his collected works appeared at Lyons (1520), Venice (1583, 1631), Cologne (1650, 1669), etc..

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online