JANSSENS, ALOTISUS. – Belgian theologian, missionary of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut), regarded as the greatest promoter of the nascent theological literature in the Flemish language. B. in 1887 at Zele, d. at Louvain in 1941.
Appointed professor of dogmatic theology in the schools of his Congregation in 1920, he set about publishing, as his missionary brethren desired (though he was never able to join them in the mission field), several manuals of dogmatic and apologetic theology in their language, to facilitate for them a more lively engagement with the sacred sciences. By the time of his death, the series of his volumes had already reached 17. The principal topics treated include: *God als Schepper* (Ghent 1924); *De Hl. Drievuldigheid* (Antwerp 1924); *Het Menscheverorden Woord* (Brussels 1925); *De Hl. Eucharistie* (ibid. 1929); *Het Mysterie der Verlossing* (I, ibid. 1931; II, ibid. 1932); *Het Hl. Oliestel* (Antwerp 1939); and above all his mariology (*De Hl. Maagd en Moeder Gods Maria*, 4 vols.: I and II, Louvain 1926–28; III and IV, Brussels 1928–31; the last, the most notable, on the Assumption). His writings are distinguished by great didactic clarity, rich patristic documentation, and precise and subtle judgment in controversial matters: they are not mere popularizations but represent a personal approach. He also concerned himself with Anglicanism (Newman was his favorite author) and published many articles in journals on theological and pastoral topics. He was a founding member of the *Semaines Mariologiques* at Tongerloo Abbey, whose proceedings were collected in 12 volumes.