Emilius Seghers (1855–1927) was the 25th

bishop of Ghent The Diocese of Ghent (Latin: ''Dioecesis Gandavensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Life

Seghers was born in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest i ...

on 3 September 1855, the son of a lawyer. He studied at the Jesuit secondary school in Ghent and the minor seminary. In 1874 he entered the

Major Seminary of Ghent The Major Seminary in Ghent was an institution for the training of Catholic clergy for the diocese of Ghent, first founded in 1569. It has been established at three different locations in the city. Since 2006 diocesan clergy from Ghent have been tra ...

for three years of Theology, which he followed with another three years at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of L ...

, graduating

Licentiate of Sacred Theology Licentiate in Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus; abbreviated STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theolo ...

in 1880.Jan Art, "Seghers, Emilius Joannes Gerardus Maria Josephus", ''

Nouvelle Biographie Nationale Nouvelle is a French word, the feminine form of "new". It may refer to: ;Places * Nouvelle, Quebec, a municipality in Quebec, Canada * Nouvelle-Église, a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department, France * Port-la-Nouvelle, a commune in the Aude dep ...

''
vol. 1
(Brussels, 1988), pp. 305-306. After a few months as an assistant in a parish in Ghent he was appointed professor of

Moral Theology Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics"/ref> A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply sati ...

at the Major Seminary and an

honorary canon A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

Ghent Cathedral Saint Bavo's Cathedral, also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral ( nl, Sint Baafskathedraal), is a cathedral of the Catholic Church in Ghent, Belgium. The 89-meter-tall Gothic building is the seat of the Diocese of Ghent and is named for Saint Bavo o ...

on 9 December 1880. In 1888 he resigned his teaching position and asked the bishop, Henri-Charles Lambrecht, to send him to a working-class parish. On 26 July 1888, he was appointed

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of St John the Baptist's church. In April 1898 it became the seat of a new

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or reside ...

. In February 1917, five months after the death of

Antoon Stillemans Antoon Stillemans (10 December 1832, Sint-Niklaas – 5 November 1916, Ghent) was for 26 years the twenty-fourth bishop of Ghent, in Belgium. Education Stillemans began studies at the St. Joseph Minor Seminary of Sint-Niklaas in 1846. In 1853 he ...

(bishop 1890–1916), Seghers was appointed to succeed as bishop. He was consecrated on 1 May the same year, taking ''In cruce salus'' as his motto. His position was made more difficult by the

German occupation of Belgium during World War I The German occupation of Belgium (french: link=no, Occupation allemande, nl, Duitse bezetting) of World War I was a military occupation of Belgium by the forces of the German Empire between 1914 and 1918. Beginning in August 1914 with the ...

. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, Seghers promoted spiritual renewal through Eucharistic Congresses, which were held in Ghent (1922), Eeklo (1923) and Sint-Niklaas (1924), and diocesan pilgrimages of Lourdes, which were organised from 1921 onwards. He also founded a Federation of Catholic Women in the diocese. In 1926, suffering from ill health, he asked for a coadjutor, and in March 1927 Honoré Jozef Coppieters was appointed such. Seghers died in Ghent on 17 May 1927.

Publications

* ''Statuta in Synodo diocesana'' (Ghent, 1924) * ''Het diocesaan eucharistisch Congres te Gent'' (Ghent, 1922) * ''Het gewestelijk eucharistisch congres van Sint-Niklaas'' (Ghent, 1923) * ''Het gewestelijk eucharistisch congres van 't Meetjesland'' (Ghent, 1924)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seghers, Emilius 1855 births 1927 deaths Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Bishops of Ghent