GHELLINCK D’ELSEGHEM, JOSEPH DE. - Historian of theology and patrologist, b. at Ghent on 30 Oct. 1872, d. at Louvain on 4 Jan. 1950. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1889 at Tronchiennes, he did his philosophical studies at Stonyhurst (England) and his theological studies at Louvain (1901-1905). After a brief stay at Linz (Austria), he returned to his homeland and, through contact with the Bollandists (De Smet, Delehaye, Peeters, Poncelet, Van Orroy), he was formed in that rigorous method which he was to apply with such success in his teaching and in his works. In 1906 he began his teaching of patrology at the Jesuit scholasticate in Louvain, to which in 1915 he added the history of dogmas. From 1925 to 1932 he spent several months each year in Rome in order to direct, at the Gregorian University, the practical exercises (seminar) in positive theology. After the First World War, he founded with Lebon and Martin the universally known Spicilegium sacrum Lovaniense. In 1942 he retired from teaching in order to devote himself to the printing of his works.
He wrote: L'Encharistie au XIIe siècle en Occident (in DThC, V, coll. 1233-1302), a dense historical-doctrinal article, which revealed the author's scholarly abilities; Le mouvement théologique du XIIe siècle (Paris 1914; 2nd ed. recast and enlarged, Brussels-Paris 1948), his masterpiece, in which the investigations of 50 years of medieval studies are fused into a harmonious synthesis, from which the theological countenance of the 12th century shines forth brightly; Pour l'histoire du mot sacramentum. I. Les anténicéens (Louvain 1924), in collaboration; Les exercices pratiques du séminaire en théologie (Paris 1934; 4th ed. ibid. 1948), a methodological little work, in which the author condensed the experience of many years and his vast knowledge in positive theology; Pierre Lombard (in DThC, XII, coll. 1941-2019), a masterly article; Littérature latine au moyen âge (2 vols., Paris 1939); L'essor de la littérature latine au XIIe siècle (2 vols., ibid. 1946), in which the specialist of the 12th century offers the full measure of his resources; Patriotique et moyen âge (3 vols., Gembloux-Paris 1946-49: the 4th vol. in preparation), a collection of studies and essays, which follow the various phases of his passionate investigations into important subjects (e.g., the 1st vol. is devoted to studies on the Apostles' Creed). Innumerable are his articles, scattered through the best journals of history and theology.
A scholar of sturdy temper, whose strong intellect was served by a rigorous method, rigidly applied, and by tireless industriousness, he had the constant ambition of raising the studies of Catholics so as to equal and surpass those of Protestants. His numerous and esteemed publications show with what generosity he had consecrated himself to this ideal and how not rarely he had attained it.
Bibliography3 works
Antonio Piolanti