Aude Dugast is the postulator of the cause for canonization of Jerome Lejeune and
the author of a new biography about his life.
Dugast spent 14 years conducting research, doing interviews and compiling
evidence for Lejeune’s cause, which advanced in early 2021 when Pope Francis
recognized Lejeune lived a life of heroic virtue and declared him “venerable.” The
confirmation of a miracle attributed to his intercession will be needed for the next
step in the process, beatification.
She turned that extensive study into a book just published by Ignatius Press, titled
“Jérôme Lejeune: A Man of Science and Conscience.” In it she outlines the life and
work of the French pediatrician and world-renowned geneticist, who contributed to
the discovery of the cause of Down syndrome, staunchly opposed abortion and
tirelessly supported his “tiny patients” and their families.
Working with others, Lejeune found evidence in 1958 that the physical and
intellectual impairments of Down syndrome or Trisomy 21, were caused by an
extra copy of chromosome 21.
This “was a revolution for the family,” Dugast told Catholic News Service in Rome
Oct. 26, because, up until then, people believed the birth of a child with this
impairment “was the end of the world.”