CHEFNEUX, MATHIEU. – Augustinian scholar, born in Liège in the early years of the seventeenth century, died around 1670. He was superior in the Augustinian convent of his native city, a prolific orator, humble and so disdainful of academic degrees that he never wished to receive one. He distinguished himself through his biblical and historical erudition, which he employed to defend the Church against the Protestants and to exhort people to Christian heroism.
Among his writings, mention should be made of the substantial work: Speculum chronographicum Ecclesiae catholicae ab origine mundi ad nos usque (3 vols., Liège 1662–1670).
BIBL.: J. Lanteri, Postrema saec. sex religionis Augustinianae, III, Rome 1860, pp. 175–76; C. Hutter, in Revista Augustiniana, 5 (1883), p. 578; Hutter, IV, col. 180. Davide Falcioni