Gils Antonius Van

Gils Antonius Van

Gils Antonius Van, D.D.

was born July 29, 1758, at Tilburg. His parents were Roman Catholics. He graduated at Louvain with high honor. In 1783 he received spiritual consecration at Antwerp. After this he was appointed to give instructions in theology, and in 1785 he received his licentiate in theology. Not approving the changes made in the University of Laouvain by order of the emperor Joseph II, he resigned his position there, and in 1786 was made chaplain at Eindhoven. From December, 1786, to April, 1790, he labored zealously among the Romanists at 's Hertogenbosch. He returned in 1790 to Louvain, where he was made president of the College of Malder and canon of St. Peter. In November of the same year he was taken prisoner by the Austrian troops, and conveyed to Mechlin. Released from confinement, he defended the university before the Congress, assembled for the regulation of Belgian affairs. In 1791 he was appointed professor, and in 1794 was promoted to the degree of doctor of theology. The French, making themselves masters of Louvain soon after, conveyed him and other professors as prisoners to Peronne. On his return to Louvain he composed the reply to the magistrates of the city, declining, on the part of himself and his colleagues, to attend the opening of the temple of reason. From 1795 to 1813 he experienced various fortunes, being sometimes imprisoned, and for most of the time an exile. After the overthrow of Napoleon he again stood at the head of the University of Louvain. He died at the university June 10, 1834. His principal works are, De twee cosyns: — Eenvondige samenspraeken over de relnaieizaken van dezen tyd (Leuv. 1796, 12mo): — Motifs de conscience qui empechent les ministres de culte catholique de faire la declaration exigee par la loi du 7 Vend. an. IV (Leuv. 1797; this was also translated into Flemish): — De gronden van het Christen- cath. geloaf, tegenover de gronden der philosophie ('s Hertogenb. 1800): — Analysis epistolarum B. Pauli apostoli ad usum seminari Sylvec- Ducensis (Lov. 1816, 3 volumes, 12mo). See Glasius, Godgeleerd Nederland, D. i, biz. 527 en verv.; also F. V. Goethals, Lectures relatives a l'histoire des sciences, des arts, des maeurs, et de la politique en Belgique, etc., 2:298 suiv. (J.P.W.)