Nicholas-Joseph Laforêt (born at , 23 January 1823; died at
Leuven
Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
, 26 January 1872) was a Belgian Catholic philosopher and theologian.
Life
After the regular theological course at the seminary of
Namur
Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.
Namur stands at the confl ...
, he entered the
Catholic University of Leuven
University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to:
* Old University of Leuven (1425–1797)
* State University of Leuven (1817–1835)
* Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)
* Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...
(French: ''Louvain''), where he applied himself especially to the study of
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic,
Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...
, Holy Scripture, and philosophy. In 1848, he was appointed to the chair of moral philosophy at the university, and, the same year, received the doctorate in theology.
Two years later he became president of the
Collège du Pape
In France, secondary education is in two stages:
* ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14.
* ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...
. Upon the death of
Pierre François Xavier de Ram
Pierre François Xavier de Ram (September 2, 1804, Leuven – May 14, 1865, Leuven), was a Belgian papal prelate, canon and historian, best known for being the first rector of the new Catholic University of Belgium, founded in Mechelen in 1834, w ...
, the bishops of Belgium chose Laforêt to succeed him in the rectorship of the university. One of his main undertakings was the foundation and organization of the schools of civil engineering, industry, and mines. He also established a new literary and pedagogical school, the Justus Lipsius Institute. Laforêt was a
prothonotary Apostolic ad instar participantium, an honorary canon of the cathedral of Namur, an officer of the
Order of Leopold (Belgium)
The Order of Leopold (, , ) is one of the three current Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the oldest and highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of its founder, King Leopold I. It consists of a military, a ma ...
, a commander of the
Order of Christ, a member of the
Royal Academy of Belgium
The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association that promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...
, and of the
Roman Academy of the Catholic Religion
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
.
Works
Besides a great number of articles, especially in the "Revue catholique", Laforêt's main works are:
*"Dissertatio historico-dogmatica de methodo theologiae, sive de auctoritate Ecclesiae catholicae tanquam regula fidei christianae "(Louvain, 1849);
*"Études sur la civilisation européenne considerée dans ses rapports avec le christianisme" (Brussels, 1850);
*"La vie et les travaux d'Arnold Tits" (Brussels, 1853);
*"Principes philosophiques de la morale" (Louvain, 1852; 2nd ed., under the title "Philosophie morale", Louvain, 1855);
*"Les dogmes catholiques exposés, prouvés et vengés des attaques de l'hérésie et de l'incrédulité" (Brussels, 1855-59);
*"Pourquoi l'on ne croit pas" (Louvain, 1864; Eng. tr. "Why men do not believe", London, s. d., and new ed., New York, 1909; Germ. tr. by Vosen, "Der moderne Unglaube und seine Hauptursachen", Mainz, 1873);
*"Histoire de la philosophie" (Brussels, 1866-67), which includes only the history of ancient philosophy, the author dying before he completed the work
*"Les martyrs de Gorcum" (Louvain, 1867; Germ. tr. Münster, 1867);
*"Le syllabus et les plaies de la société moderne", a posthumous work, including the author's testament (Louvain, 1872).
References
*Annuaire de l'université de Louvain, XXXVII (1873), 261, 296:
*De Monge, Monseigneur Laforêt in Revue catholique, XXXIII (1872), 241;
*Anon., Bibliographie de l'universite de Louvain (Louvain, 1900), 25;
*Anon., L'universite de Louvain (Brussels, 1900), 76.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laforet, Nicholas-Joseph
1823 births
1872 deaths
19th-century Belgian Roman Catholic theologians
Apostolic pronotaries