Ghisbertus Masius (c. 1545 – 1614) was the fourth

bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch The Roman Catholic Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch ( la, Dioecesis Buscoducensis) is a diocese of the Catholic church in the Netherlands. The modern diocese was created in 1853. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Utrecht. It is currently led by ...

, in the Habsburg Netherlands, and sat in the

Estates General of 1600 The Estates General of 1600 was a parliamentary assembly of representatives of the constituent provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands. It was the first, and only, estates general of the Netherlands convened under the authority of the Archdukes Albe ...

as a representative of the First Estate.

Life

Masius was born in Den Bommel around 1545 and studied at the University of Leuven, 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 Theol ...

. He was appointed to a canonry of St. John's Cathedral,

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

, in 1579. On 1 November 1593 he was appointed bishop, and was consecrated in Brussels on 7 March 1594, taking possession of his see on 25 March. Ch. Piot, "Masius (Gilbert)", '' Biographie Nationale de Belgique''
vol. 13
(Brussels, 1895), 931-933. During the Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch in 1601 he was active in his support of the city's defenders. Masius commissioned a catechism, the ''Catechismus voor de Catholijke jonckheijt des bisdoms van 's Hertoghenbosche'', based on the

Mechelen Catechism Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

drafted by Lodewijk Makeblijde. In February 1612 he ordered that this be the basis of all religious instruction in the parishes and schools of his diocese.Joseph A. Coppens, ''Nieuwe beschrijving van het bisdom van 's Hertogenbosch'', vol. 1 ('s-Hertogenbosch, 1840), pp. 238-240. On 9 and 10 October 1612, Masius presided at the second diocesan synod of 's-Hertogenbosch, the statutes of which were printed at Cologne in 1613. Masius died on 2 July 1614 and was buried in his cathedral. He had been a friend and correspondent of Francis de Sales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masius, Ghisbertus 1614 deaths Belgian bishops 17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Holy Roman Empire Old University of Leuven alumni Year of birth uncertain