Engelbert Sterckx (2 November 1792 – 4 December 1867) was the

Archbishop of Mechelen In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, from 1832 to 1867.

Life

Engelbert (Engelbertus) Sterckx was born 2 November 1792 in Ophem, Brabant. His parents were farmers. He began his studies in

Vilvoorde Vilvoorde (; ; ; historically known as ''Filford'' in English) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city in the Halle-Vilvoorde district (''arrondissement'') of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Bra ...

, after which he studied humanities at the college of Enghien (1805-1807). After secondary school in Leuven, he entered the Major Seminary, Mechelen, on 18 September 1811 and in 1813 was named subsecretary of the archdiocesan curia of Mechelen in 1813.Miranda, Salvador. "Sterckx, Engelbert", The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
/ref> Sterckx was ordained, with an age exemption, as priest for the Archdiocese of Mechelen, on 18 February 1815. He was vice-regent and professor of philosophy and moral theology at Mechelen from 1815 to 1821, when he was appointed pastor at Boechout. In 1824 he was appointed archpriest of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. In 1827, he was named vicar general to Archbishop Francis Anthony de Méan of Mechelen, and organized the opposition of the clergy to the religious policies of

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

Belgian independence

In 1830 the southern provinces

seceded Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the c ...

from the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

and established a constitutional

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

. The people of the south were nearly all Catholic; half were French-speaking. Many outspoken liberals regarded King William I's rule as despotic. There were high levels of unemployment and industrial unrest among the working classes. The liberal faction began to support the Catholics, partly to accomplish its own goals: freedom of education and freedom of the press. Belgium became a separate ecclesiastical province with Mechelen as an archbishopric and the suffragan dioceses of Liège, Namur, Tournai, Bruges and Ghent.

Archbishop

The new constitution guaranteed religious, educational and press freedom. Although not enthusiastic about all the provisions Sterckx decided they were tolerable. Not a profound thinker, Sterckx was a clever negotiator with a natural inclination to conciliatory pragmatism.Viaene, Vincent
''Belgium and the Holy See from Gregory XVI to Pius IX (1831-1859)''
Universitaire Pers Leuven, 2001, p. 82 He became Archbishop on 24 February 1832, but his consecration was initially delayed by rumors against him of liberalism. In 1833 he baptised Louis-Philippe, Crown Prince of Belgium, the eldest son of Leopold I of the Belgians. Archbishop Sterckx took full advantage of the new freedoms to completely reorganize his Archdiocese, establishing schools, colleges, monasteries, charities and minor seminaries in Hoogstraten and Waver."Englebert Sterckx", Das Portal zur katholischen Geisteswelt
/ref> The University of Mechelen was mainly the work of Sterckx, and was a revival of the famous University of Leuven, which had been founded in 1425 and closed in 1797. Sterckx wrote to

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI (; ; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846. He had adopted the name Mauro upon enteri ...

on 14 November 1833 regarding the proposed establishment of a

Catholic university Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...

for Belgium, and Gregory replied to him and the other Belgian bishops on 13 December 1833 in a letter entitled ''Maiori certo'', granting his approval. Gregory referred to the tradition of granting pontifical approval to the establishment of Catholic seats of learning. It opened in November 1834 and moved to

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

in December 1835. During the consistory of 13 September 1838, the Pope appointed him as a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

with the title of cardinal-priest of St. Bartholomew en l'Ile (San Bartolomeo all'Isola). He did not participate in the conclave of 1846 at which

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

was chosen. In 1842, Sterckx issued a decree regarding

plainsong Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive for ...

and the following year established a commission to prepare a new edition of choral books. The Mechlin Gradual and Vesperal was published in 1848. In 1857 an anticlerical Liberal government came to power under the leadership of Charles Rogier and later Walthère Frère-Orban. Sterckx strongly opposed all interference, such as the law on cemeteries of 1862. In 1863, 1864 and 1867 he hosted a series of influential Catholic Congresses in Mechelen with the aim of invigorating Catholic social, cultural and political engagement. Cardinal Sterckx died on 4 December 1867, in Mechelen, where his remains rest in the crypt of the archbishops in St. Rombout's Cathedral.

Honours

* Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold. * Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Leopold.Bien Public (Le) 23-07-1862

References

Sources