Joannes Baptista or Jean-Baptiste Malou (1809–1864) was a Belgian theologian who became

bishop of Bruges The Diocese of Bruges (in Dutch Bisdom Brugge) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, which ...

Life

Malou was born in Ypres on 30 June 1809, the son of Senator Jean-Baptiste Malou and Marie-Thérèse Vanden Peereboom. His older brother,

Jules Malou Jules Edouard Xavier Malou (19 October 1810 – July 1886) was a Belgian statesman, a leader of the clerical party. Career Malou was born at Ypres. He was a civil servant in the department of justice when he was elected to the Chamber of Deput ...

, would be a prime minister of Belgium. He was educated at the Jesuit-run Collège de Saint-Acheul in France until 1828. During the Belgian Revolution he made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he determined to pursue a vocation to the priesthood and enrolled in theological studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and the

Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum The ''Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum'', or simply ''Collegium Germanicum'', is a German-speaking seminary for Catholic priests in Rome, founded in 1552. Since 1580 its full name has been ''Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urb''e ...

. Thomas Joseph Lamy, "Malou (Jean-Baptiste)", ''

Biographie Nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (French; "National Biography of Belgium") is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ' ...

''
vol. 13
(Brussels, 1895), 253-258. Malou was ordained to the priesthood on 2 November 1834 and graduated

Doctor of Sacred Theology The Doctor of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Doctor, abbreviated STD), also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STP), is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Roman Catholic C ...

in 1835, after which he returned to Belgium. He initially taught at the Major Seminary, Bruges, and from 1836 to 1848 was professor of

dogmatic theology Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Ch ...

at the recently founded Catholic University of Leuven. On 11 December 1848, he was preconised Bishop of Bruges, in succession to François-René Boussen, by Pope Pius IX. He was consecrated as bishop in Bruges on 1 May 1849, with the

papal nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...

Innocenzo Ferrieri Innocenzo Ferrieri (1810–1887) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Ferrieri was appointed Titular Archbishop of Side on 4 October 1847. He was elevated to Cardinal on 13 March 1868 by Pope Pius IX and appointed Cardinal-Pries ...

, as well as Archbishop Sibour of Paris and Archbishop Wiseman of Westminster in attendance. As bishop his focus was on seminary education, the re-establishment of religious life, and the establishment of local schools run by religious orders. He also introduced

Jean-Baptiste Bethune Jean-Baptiste Bethune {April 25, 1821 - June 18, 1894) was a Belgian architect, artisan and designer who played a pivotal role in the Belgian and Catholic Gothic Revival movement. He was called by some the "''Pugin of Belgium''", with reference ...

to the English artists' colony in Bruges, which led to Bethune opening his own stained glass works on the Hoogstraat. In 1854, he was among the bishops consulted on the definition of the dogma of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

. He died in Bruges on 23 March 1864.

Publications

* ''Chronique du monastère d'Oudenbourg avec des notes et des éclaircissements'' (Bruges, 1840) * ''Pieuse explication des prières du chrétien proposée à la jeunesse chrétienne'' (Leuven, 1841; second edition Tournai, 1854) * ''La Lecture de la Sainte Bible en Langue Vulgaire'' (Leuven, 1846) * ''Recherches historiques et critiques sur le véritable auteur de l'Imitation de Jésus-Christ'' (Brussels, 1848) * ''Du Culte du Saint Sang de Jésus-Christ et de la relique de ce sang qui est conservée à Bruges'' (Bruges, 1851) * ''Statuta dioecesis Brugensis'' (Bruges, 1852) * ''De la Liberté de la charité en Belgique'' (Brussels, 1854) * ''Iconographie de l'Immaculée Conception de la très sainte Vierge Marie, ou de la meilleure manière de représenter ce mystère'' (Brussels, 1856) * ''La Fausseté du protestantisme démontrée'' (Brussels, 1857) * ''L'Immaculée Conception de la bienheureuse Vierge Marie considérée comme dogme de foi'' (Brussels, 1857) * ''De l'Administration des cimetières catholiques en Belgique'' (Brussels, 1860) * ''Règles pour le choix d'un état de vie proposées à la jeunesse chrétienne'' (Brussels, 1860) ** German translation Mainz, 1863 ** English translation by Aloysius del Vittorio, ''The Choice of a State of Life'' (London, 1874)Choice of a State of Life
at Internet Archive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malou, Jean-Baptiste 1809 births 1864 deaths People from Ypres Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni Academic staff of the Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) Bishops of Bruges 19th-century Belgian Roman Catholic theologians