The Kingdom of Belgium is only about the size of the U.S. state of Maryland, but historically it has produced figures whose impact transcends its borders. Here are a few:
Georges Lemaître, inventor of the Big Bang
Physicist, mathematician, cosmologist, theologian, priest, and Jesuit: Georges Lemaître, born in Charleroi in 1894, is a unique character. A survivor of the First World War, during which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, this brilliant intellectual decided to join the Jesuits and received ordination to the priesthood in 1920. He then embarked on research in the field of physics, attending Harvard and MIT before returning to teach at Louvain.
His work, recognized by his peers, notably Albert Einstein, led him to investigate the expansion of the universe and the hypothesis of the primitive atom, known as the Big Bang. A high-flying intellectual, heeded by both Pius XII and John XXIII, he became head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1960.
St. Damien, apostle to the lepers of Hawaii
Jozef de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Flemish Brabant, in 1840. In 1859 he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary order, taking the religious name of Damien.
In 1863, still a seminarian, he was sent to the Pacific Islands, a destination he knew nothing about, which led him to the Hawaiian archipelago. He was ordained there and began his mission by building numerous chapels and involving the communities.
The archipelago was then stricken by leprosy, and one island, Molokai, was turned into a leper colony by the government. Fr. Damien decided to settle there and became pastor to some 800 lepers living in very difficult conditions.
In 1884, he contracted leprosy. Although abandoned by his hierarchy and criticized by envious Protestant missionaries, he continued his mission, attracting new missionaries, including the future Franciscan saint Sr. Marianne Cope. Shortly after Fr. Damien’s death in 1889, the writer Robert Louis Stevenson investigated his life and published a magnificent article in his defense in The Times. He was canonized in 2009.
King Baudouin, a pious sovereign loved by his people
Prince Baudouin’s youth was particularly difficult. He lost his grandfather and then his mother in tragic accidents, and saw his country plunged into the turmoil of the Second World War. His father’s decision to remain in Belgium during the German occupation, considered a mistake by most Belgians, propelled Baudouin to the throne in 1951 at just 21 years of age.
A solitary and pious man, he remained single for nine years before meeting the love of his life, Spanish aristocrat Fabiola de Mora y Aragon. The couple lost all of their children to miscarriages, however, and Baudouin prepared his nephew Philippe to succeed him. The king died in 1993 after a two-year illness. His death provoked a wave of popular emotion throughout the country. His simple lifestyle, his defense of family values and of the poor, had made him a pillar of Belgian society.
Sr. Emmanuelle, little sister of the Cairo ragpickers
Madeleine Cinquin was born in Brussels in 1908 into a wealthy family. Her father drowned in front of her at the age of eight, a trauma that brought her closer to God. Against her mother’s advice, she joined the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion in 1929 and took her vows two years later, taking the name that would make her famous: Sister Emmanuelle.
Sent to Turkey and Tunisia, where she taught in upper-class establishments, she began to doubt her mission, and was sent back to Paris and then to Istanbul. Finally, she was sent to Egypt to teach at a trendy secondary school in Alexandria, but she lost all interest in her pupils and began working with girls from an underprivileged neighborhood.
Inspired by St. Damien of Molokai, she took advantage of her retirement in 1971 to give herself entirely to the poor. She moved to a shantytown in Cairo, where she lived among the ragpickers.
Supported by the government and quickly recognized abroad, where donations poured in, she provided thousands of children with schooling, and many families with food and shelter. She finally retired to France in 1993, at the age of 85, but continued to care for the homeless and support her association for the poor of Cairo. She died a month shy of her 100th birthday in 2008.
Julienne de Cornillon, inventor of the Feast of Corpus Christi
Born near Liège at the end of the 12th century, Julienne (Juliana) lost her parents at an early age and was entrusted to the nuns of Mont Cornillon, from where she takes her last name. She joined their ranks at the age of 14.
A mystic particularly sensitive to Eucharistic devotion, she received mysterious visions in her youth without understanding them. In 1222, she became prioress of her community and understood the meaning of the visions that haunted her: She had to create a new religious feast dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament.
Together with Blessed Eve of Liège, she composed the divine office for the feast and won the support of the archdeacon of Liège, Jacques Pantaléon, the future Pope Urban IV — but not of the people of Liège, who didn’t want an extra day of fasting.
Julienne died in 1528, without having attended what would later become known as Corpus Christi. Blessed Ève de Liège continued her work, however, and the festival was finally adopted in 1246, then extended to the whole Church in 1264 by Urban IV.
Jan Van Eyck, painter of the Mystic Lamb
Little is known about Jan Van Eyck’s life. Born, it is said, in the Liège region in 1395, he is considered one of the greatest masters of the Flemish school of oil painting.
His undisputed masterpiece is the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, a splendid polyptych in Ghent’s St. Bavo Cathedral, begun by his brother Hubert and completed in 1432 at the request of Joos Vijd, alderman of this powerful merchant city. A true catechist, the painter recounts biblical episodes, combining a more “naturalistic” style of painting with a fully medieval symbolism.
The central panel, which gives the work its title, depicts a particularly significant episode from the Apocalypse of John: “They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, carrying palm branches in their hands.”
Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens, pillar of the Second Vatican Council
Born in Ixelles in 2004, Léon-Joseph Suenens joined the major seminary in Mechelen on leaving school and quickly became a distinguished professor of philosophy, before taking up the post of rector of the University of Louvain during the Second World War.
Close to charismatic circles, he was appointed Archbishop of Malines-Brussels in 1961, and was created Cardinal by John XXIII the following year. The pontiff then entrusted him with the most important task of his life, that of moderator — of which there were four — during the Second Vatican Council. His role throughout the Council was decisive. He retired in 1979 and died in 1996 at the age of 92.
Adrian VI, an almost Belgian pope
There is no such thing yet as a Belgian pope … at least, mostly not. Adriaan Floriszoon Boeyens was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands. However, his name remains attached to the University of Louvain, where he taught theology between 1476 and 1507, serving as rector and then chancellor.
He then became Charles V‘s tutor in Ghent and Spain, where he was appointed Archbishop of Tortosa, before being created Cardinal at the Emperor’s request. He was elected pope in 1522, without even taking part in the conclave. This intellectual, renowned for his austerity, greeted the news with a sigh — and chose, against all custom, to keep his first name, becoming Adrian VI.
In Rome, he surprised everyone with his independence and his simple, pious life, drastically reducing the pomp of the pontifical court. Close to the poor and an uncompromising theologian, he recognized the wrongs of the Roman curia that had led to the Reformation, and attacked the abuses of the clergy, which earned him many enemies.
In Rome, this “beer-drinking” barbarian began to be reviled for his valiant fight against corruption. At the time, he is said to have told a friend, “How much better it would be if I were still living peacefully in Louvain!” He died in 1523 without having succeeded in implementing his institutional reforms, much to the relief of the Roman Curia.
And today we celebrate...