Bernanos, Georges, 1888 – 1948, French novelist and polemicist. Profoundly Catholic, Bernanos attacked modern materialism and advocated a moral and ethical order based on the teachings of the Church. His novels THE STAR OF SATAN and THE DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST are powerful accounts of intense spiritual struggle and reflect his mysticism. DIALOGUE DES CARMELITES (1949) was adapted for the stage in 1952.