Mathias Hovius

Portrait from 1612

Mathias Hovius (also Mathias Hovius , born in van den Hove ; * 1542 in Mechelen , † May 30, 1620 in Affligem ) was a Catholic theologian and Archbishop of Mechelen.

Life

Hovius studied theology and philosophy at the University of Leuven and was established in 1561 to Doctor PhD , then he obtained a licentiate in theology. In 1566 he was ordained a priest . He became chaplain and then pastor of St. Peter and Paul in Mechelen. During this time of the Eighty Years' War he experienced, among other things, the storms on Mechelen by the Spanish in 1572 and the English in 1580. In 1577 he was appointed canon at the Mechelen main church St. Rombout . In 1582 he became archdeacon and after the death of Archbishop Johannes Hauchin in 1589 he was vicar general of the archbishopric.

After the death of Archbishop William Allen and a period of vacancy , he was appointed Archbishop of Mechelen in 1595 and ordained episcopal in 1596 . In collaboration with the Jesuits , Hovius established, among other things, a catechism that continued to work in Belgium into the 20th century. With the support of the governor Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain and her husband, the regent Albrecht VII of Habsburg , he convened a provincial council in 1609 to implement the results of the Council of Trent in his archbishopric.

He died in 1620 while visiting Affligem Abbey and was buried in the Rombous Cathedral of Mechelen. His house community also included his successor in office Jacobus Boonen .

Publications (selection)

• Oratio de causis Synodi deque abusibus Cleri et Ecclesiae Hollandiae. Antwerp 1608.
• Decreta et statuta Synodi Dioeces, Mechliniensis. Antwerp 1609.
• Statuta omnium Curiarum Ecclesiasticarum Provinciae Mechlinensis. 1617.
• Brevis ac dilucida Instructio minus exercitatorum Pastorum ac concessariorum, quorum opera in hac sacerdotum raritate est necessaria Ecclesiae Belgicae, 4o. et 12o. per XXXV Canones saepius editae iterumque. Löwen 1626, Cologne 1676.

literature

• Abraham Jacob van der Aa : Biographical Woordenboek der Nederlanden. Volume 8, 2nd part, Brederode, Haarlem 1867, p. 1362 f.
• J. Laenen: Geschiedenis van het Mechelsch Seminarie vanaf het Episcopaat van Aartsbisschop Matthias Hovius dead on the ZE Kardinaal van Roey. Laurant, Mechelen 1930.
• CE Harline, E. Put: A bishop's tale: Mathias Hovius among his flock in seventeenth-century Flanders. Yale University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-300-08342-4 .

Web links

• Works by and about Mathias Hovius  in the German Digital Library
• Entry on Mathias Hovius on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
William Allen	Archbishop of Mechelen 1596–1620	Jacobus Boonen