Mathias Hovius
Mathias Hovius | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Mechelen | |
 Matthias Hovius - by Lucas Franchoys the Elder (attributed) | |
| Church | Roman Catholic |
| Archdiocese | Mechelen |
| See | St. Rumbold's Cathedral |
| Installed | 1596 |
| Term ended | 1620 |
| Predecessor | Joannes Hauchin |
| Successor | Jacobus Boonen |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1566 |
| Consecration | 18 February 1596 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1542 Mechelen |
| Died | 30 May 1620 Affligem |
| Buried | St. Rumbold's Cathedral |
| Alma mater | University of Leuven |
| Motto | Superat Patientia Fortem (Patience Overcomes the Strong) |
Mathias Hovius (1542–1620), born Matthijs Van Hove, was the third Archbishop of Mechelen from 1596 to 1620. As Archbishop, Hovius presided over implementing the Catholic Reformation in the Spanish Netherlands.
Early career[]
Born at Mechelen, Hovius studied theology and philosophy at Leuven University, and was ordained priest in 1566, the year iconoclasm broke out in the Netherlands. While pastor at Saints Peter and Paul's Church in Mechelen, Hovius witnessed the Spanish Fury at Mechelen in 1572, and the English Fury at Mechelen in 1580, both during the Eighty Years' War.
Vicar-General[]
Hovius was appointed vicar-general of the archdiocese of Mechelen upon the death of Archbishop Joannes Hauchin in 1589.
Archbishop[]
In 1596, Hovius was consecrated the third Archbishop of Mechelen. Among his accomplishments were the founding of a seminary and the creation of a catechism with help from the Jesuits. The remained a standard in Catholic religious education in Belgium until well into the twentieth century.
In 1609, Hovius convened a provincial council in Mechelen to implement the decrees of the Council of Trent in the archdiocese. He was supported in his efforts by Albert and Isabella of Austria, Governors-General of the Spanish Netherlands.
On 14 November 1599 he installed Joanne Berkeley as the first abbess of a new Benedictine convent in Brussels. The new convent had been approved by the pope and the local authorities and it was funded by Mary Percy who was one of the first nuns.[1]
Archbishop Hovius died on 30 May 1620 during a canonical visitation to Affligem Abbey.
References[]
- ^ "Berkeley, Joanne [name in religion Joanna] (1555/6–1616), abbess of the Convent of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, Brussels". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/105817. ISBN 9780198614111. Retrieved 12 February 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Laenen, Kan. Dr. J. (1930), Geschiedenis van het Mechelsch Seminarie vanaf het Episcopaat van Aartsbisschop Matthias Hovius tot onder Z.E. Kardinaal van Roey, Mechelen, Gebr. Laurent, 393 pp.
- Harline, C. E. & Put, E. (2000), A bishop's tale: Mathias Hovius among his flock in seventeenth-century Flanders, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-08342-4 (Cloth); ISBN 0-300-13054-6 (Electronic), ISBN 978-0-300-08342-2 (Cloth); ISBN 978-0-300-13054-6 (Electronic)
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- 1542 births
- 1620 deaths
- 16th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Holy Roman Empire
- 17th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Holy Roman Empire
- Flemish Roman Catholic priests
- Roman Catholic archbishops of Mechelen-Brussels
- Old University of Leuven alumni