HEYLEN, THOMAS-LOUIS. - Bishop of Namur, b. 5 Feb. 1856 at Casterlé-lez-Turnhout (Antwerp), d. 27 Oct. 1941 at Namur. A Premonstratensian in the abbey of Tongerloo (1875) and ordained priest on 11 July 1881, he was sent to Rome for advanced studies at the Gregorian University, where Mazzella and Billot were among his teachers.
He brilliantly defended a philosophical disputation before Leone XIII, who conceived a high esteem for the young Premonstratensian. In 1887 he was elected abbot of Tongerloo and two years later vicar general of the Norbertines of Belgium; his governance proved highly beneficial to the entire Order. On
5 Sept. 1899 he was appointed bishop of Namur, where he governed wisely, implementing social reforms among the people. His firm attitude in the face of the invader (1914–18) was admired.
In 1901 he became permanent president of the International Eucharistic Congresses. In this capacity he was the driving force behind the great Eucharistic assemblies, which from the beginning of the century until 1938 were held in the greatest cities of the world. His learning, equal to his extraordinary zeal, shone forth at those gatherings, created around him an atmosphere of admiration, and he was hailed as an apostle of the Most Holy Eucharist.