Jean de Wachtendonck, Latinized Joannes (1592–1668) was the eighth

bishop of Namur The Diocese of Namur is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. The diocese is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province in the metropolit ...

, in the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the Ha ...

(now in Belgium).

Life

Wachtendonck was born in Mechelen. He studied at

Leuven University KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

and graduated Licentiate of Theology in 1616. He became a canon of St Rumbold's Cathedral, an ecclesiastical councillor of the Great Council of Mechelen, vicar general and ecclesiastical councillor of the Brussels Council of State. In February 1634 he delivered a formal eulogy of

Isabella Clara Eugenia Isabella Clara Eugenia ( es, link=no, Isabel Clara Eugenia; 12 August 1566 – 1 December 1633), sometimes referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia, was sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and the north of modern France with ...

(died December 1633) in the cathedral, published as ''Oratio funebris Isabellae Clarae Eugeniae Hispaniarum infantis''. In 1651 he was named

, but his installation was delayed until 1654 due to suspicions of

Jansenism Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...

. In Namur he founded a diocesan seminary and held a diocesan synod for the reform of the clergy. He reported favourably to

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667. He began his career as a vice- papal legate, an ...

on the cause for the beatification of the

Martyrs of Gorcum The Martyrs of Gorkum ( nl, Martelaren van Gorcum) were a group of 19 Dutch Catholic clerics, secular and religious, who were hanged on 9 July 1572 in the town of Brielle by militant Dutch Calvinists during the 16th-century religious wars—s ...

. In April 1668 he succeeded

Andreas Creusen Andreas Creusen (1591–1666) was a Dutch Catholic clergyman who became bishop of Roermond (1651–1657) and Archbishop of Mechelen (1657–1666). Biography Creusen was born in Maastricht and studied at the Latin school and the Jesuit college o ...

as archbishop of Mechelen but died in Brussels on the way to his new see."Wachtendonck (Jean de)", '' Biographie Nationale de Belgique''
vol. 27
(Brussels, 1938), 4–6.

Works

His eulogy of the Infanta Isabella was published as: *''Oratio funebris Isabellae Clarae Eugeniae Hispaniarum infantis'' (Brussels:

Jean Pepermans Jean Pepermans, sometimes Latinized Joannes Pepermannus (active 1620–1635) was a 17th-century printer and bookseller, official printer to the city of Brussels. Very little is known about his life, but he published works by or about some of the l ...

, 1634) He was also the author of a life of St Rumbold: * ''Vita, passio, et miracula S. Rumoldi archiepiscopi Dublinensis, Apostoli Mechliniensis & martyris'' (Mechelen:

Henry Jaye Henry Jaye (died 1643) was an English Catholic exile in the Southern Netherlands. He became printer to the city of Mechelen. Life The earliest record of Jaye is in 1606, when the English ambassador in Brussels, Sir Thomas Edmondes, had him summ ...

, 1638) ** ''Het leven 't lyden ende mirakelen vanden H. Rombout'', translated by Franchoys vanden Bossche (Mechelen: Henry Jaye, 1639)

References

1592 births 1668 deaths Bishops of Namur {{Belgium-RC-clergy-stub