Robert-Joseph Mathen (1916–1997) was the 28th

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 metropoli ...

in Belgium. Mathen was born in Aubange on 30 December 1916, and was educated at Collège Saint-Joseph de Virton. He entered the seminary and was ordained to the priesthood on 25 August 1940, after which he studied Theology at the Catholic University of Leuven. In 1960 he was appointed

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

Arlon Arlon (; lb, Arel ; nl, Aarlen ; german: Arel ; wa, Årlon; la, Orolaunum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in and capital of the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it is th ...

, and on 24 June 1974 he became bishop of Namur. He had already been consecrated as his predecessor's coadjutor bishop on 3 May the same year. In 1990

Pope John-Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

accepted his resignation, to come into force when his successor was appointed. He died as a result of pneumonia on 19 January 1997 and his funeral service took place in Namur cathedral on 23 January.

References

1916 births 1997 deaths Bishops of Namur 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Belgium {{Belgium-bio-stub