Peter Janssens van Kalmthout was a

Norbertine The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

priest from the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Neth ...

who was murdered by Dutch rebels on the night of 16 April 1572.

Life

Janssens was born in

Kalmthout Kalmthout () is a municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the villages of Kalmthout, Achterbroek, Heide, and Nieuwmoer. In 2021, Kalmthout had a population of 19,020. The total area is . In addition to Kalmth ...

around 1535, the son of a tenant of

Tongerlo Abbey Tongerlo Abbey is a Premonstratensian monastery at Tongerlo in Westerlo near Antwerp, Belgium. History It was founded in 1128 in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Giselbert of Kasterlee, who not only gave the land, but also himself became a ...

. In January 1556 he was clothed as a Norbertine in Tongerlo, and in May 1558 he made his solemn profession.Fruytier
Kalmpthout, Petrus van, genaamd Joannis of Janssens
''Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek'', vol. 6 (Leiden, 1924), 871-872. After ordination in Brussels he was appointed the monastery's circator. Around 1566 he was installed as priest of the dependent parish of Haaren, near

Oisterwijk Oisterwijk () is a municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands. Population centres * Haaren * Heukelom *Moergestel *Oisterwijk Topography ''Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Oisterwijk, 2021'' Transportation * Railway ...

, where he preached against the Reformed. On the night of 16 April 1572, a gang of rebels plundered the rectory and tortured the parish priest, demanding that he renounce the Catholic faith. When he refused they cut off his head with an axe. His mutilated body was carried to Tongerlo for burial.

Veneration and iconography

No beatification process was ever instituted, but he was commemorated as a victim of hatred of Catholicism. In art he is shown as a Norbertine priest holding the axe with which he was beheaded. In 1977 a bronze bust by Ton Buijnsters was erected in Haaren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalmpthout, Petrus Janssens van Premonstratensians Belgian clergy 1530s births 1572 deaths Year of birth uncertain