CANDIDUS, ALEXANDER. - Carmelite theologian of the Ancient Observance, born at Gand on an uncertain date and died at Colonia on 31 Dec. 1555. His family name was Nicola Blankert. After making his profession at Utrecht, he was sent to Colonia, where he obtained the degree of doctor of theology in 1546; not long afterwards (1551) he became ordinary professor of Theology, and later (1554), dean at the same University of Colonia. In the last years of his life, C. was prior of the convent at Colonia and parish priest of the church of S. Nicola. He was active and combative against Protestantism, particularly against Calvinism.
Sent in 1551 to the Council of Trent as theologian to Maria d'Austria, sister of Carlo V and governor of the Paesi Bassi, he delivered two addresses that year, at the sessions of 25 Oct. and of the Fourth Sunday of Advent; these addresses were published that same year at Colonia: Iudicium Ioh. Calvini de sanctorum reliquii collatum cum orthodoxorum S. Ecclesiae catholicae Patrum sententiis, e Oratio de retributione iustorum statim a morte. C., however, has remained better known for an annotated translation of the Bible into Flemish, prepared with great care from the various Latin editions and much more accurate than the preceding ones, published at Colonia in 1547.