ADRIAENSZ (ADRIANSSEN), CORNELIUS. - Distinguished theologian, born at Dordrecht in 1521, died at Bruges on 14 July 1581. He studied at Bruges under Cassander, whom he succeeded. Having entered the Franciscan Order in 1548, he was guardian of the convent of Ypres in 1563 and of that of Bruges in 1556; in 1578-79 he endured the persecution of Ryhove and his followers who, having taken the city, devastated the convent. An eminent preacher, he fought strenuously against Cassander, Erasmus, and the emerging Protestantism.
He wrote: Den Spiegel van den thien geboden (“The mirror of the Ten Commandments”; Bruges 1554); De seven sacramenten nytgheleyt ende openbaerhyck te Brugge ghepreect by Br. C. van Dordrecht (Sermons on the seven Sacraments preached at Bruges). Two volumes of ridiculous and obscene sermons were attributed to him in order to defame him; yet he was recognized by all as a man of the utmost integrity and piety. His body, transferred in 1615 to the church of the Franciscans, was found incorrupt.