Jansenius, Cornelius

, a learned Flemish prelate, was born at Hulst in the year 1510, and educated at Ghent and Louvain. He became a proficient in the Hebrew, as well as Greek and Latin languages, and devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures. He was appointed professor | of divinity at Louvain, and admitted to the degree of doctor of divinity. In the council of Trent he commanded respect by his learning and modesty, and upon his return to Flanders in 1568, was nominated the first bishop of Ghent, where he died in 1576, His works were, “A Paraphrase on the Psalms,” with copious notes, in Latin, printed at Louvain in 1569. “Notes on the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, the Canticles, and the Book of Wisdom,” printed in 1586. “Commentaries upon some passages in the Old Testament,” &c. His chief work, however, was the “Concordia Evangelica,” first printed in 1549, and frequently reprinted. Of this work Dupin says, that it is the most perfect harmony of the four Gospels which had till that time appeared. To the author he pays a very distinguished tribute of respect, as a very able expositor of Scripture, and eminently characterized by his learning, judgment, and perspicuity. ¹