Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs

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Kerkhof's bishop's coat of arms at the Grand Seminary in Liège

Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs (born February 15, 1878 in Val-Meer , Riemst ; † December 31, 1962 in Liège ) was a Belgian clergyman and from 1927 to 1961 Bishop of Liège .

Live and act

Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs studied after graduating from high school in Peer , at the seminary in Hasselt and in Rome . On September 22, 1900, Kerkhofs received the sacrament of ordination in Liège . In 1901 he became a professor at the Small Seminary in Sint-Truiden . At the major seminary in Liege, he took over the chair of 1917 dogmatism and in 1922 rain of Liege's seminar.

Pope Pius XI appointed him on December 18, 1924 titular bishop of Diocaesarea in Palestine and coadjutor bishop of Liège. He was ordained bishop on February 11 of the following year by the Bishop of Liège, Martin-Hubert Rutten ; Co- consecrators were Thomas Louis Heylen , Bishop of Namur , and Louis Joseph Legraive , Auxiliary Bishop in Mechelen . With the death of Bishop Rutten on July 17, 1927, he succeeded him as the 88th Bishop of Liège. In 1942 he arranged for a worker priest to be sent to a factory for the first time .

During the Second World War he was able to protect numerous Jews from access by the Gestapo. The Grand Rabbi Solomon Ullmann he hid in the episcopal palace, the Liège rabbi and his family in a convent in Huy. Around 400 children and adults were accommodated and rescued in Banneux with the help of the businessman Max-Albert Van den Berg and the lawyer Guy Wolf . For this he was posthumously honored in 1981 with the Righteous Among the Nations .

On December 7, 1961, Pope John XXIII. resigned from the diocese of Liège and appointed him titular bishop of Serrae .

Apparition of Mary in Banneux

The twelve-year-old Mariette Beco stated that at the beginning of 1933 the Blessed Mother appeared to her as the “Virgin of the Poor”. In 1942, Kerkhofs approved the veneration of Mary in Banneux, and in 1949 he confirmed the supernatural Marian apparitions, which were also recognized by the Vatican in 1952.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La Libre; Il a sauvé plus de 400 enfants juifs (French).
  2. ↑ Kerkhof's commitment to fugitive Jews on the Yad Vashem website.
  3. ↑ Press release on the 75th anniversary of the apparitions
predecessor Office successor
Martin-Hubert Rutten Bishop of Liège
1927–1961 		Guillaume-Marie van Zuylen
personal data
SURNAME Kerkhofs, Louis-Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kerkhofs, Ludwig Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian clergyman, Bishop of Liège
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Val-Meer , Riemst , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1962
Place of death Liege