BOOKS:
Jérôme Lejeune remembered review by Tim O’Sullivan
Jérôme Lejeune: La Liberté du Savant, Aude Dugast, Artège, 2019
T
he death earlier this year of Birthe Lejeune, widow of Jérôme, the French pioneer of modern gene�cs, has brought a renewed focus on both their lives. Their daughter’s book on her father (Clara Lejeune-Gaymard, Life is a Blessing, Igna�us Press) is available in English and was reviewed in these pages by Fr Conor Donnelly in 2016. Jérôme Lejeune (1926-1994) should nevertheless be be�er known in the English-speaking world. While two major biographies have been published in French, there are not as yet any transla�ons in English. This fine 2019 publica�on by Aude Dugast, however is due to appear in transla�on in 2021 and follows on an excellent earlier biography in 2004 by Anne Bernet, which included extensive detail, for
example, on Lejeune’s early years and family background. Aude Dugast is also the postulator of his cause for canoniza�on, the process for which began in his Paris diocese in 2007 and was completed in 2012, at which point he was given the �tle of Servant of God. The Roman stage of the process began in 2013 and the “Posi�o” document drawing together informa�on about Lejeune’s life, virtues and reputa�on was presented to the relevant Roman congrega�on in 2017 by Dugast. The process will con�nue in the coming years in Rome. In preparing this biography, Dugast thus had privileged access to his papers as well as extensive contacts with his family, colleagues and friends. As she makes clear, Prof Lejeune is best37
