JANSSENS, FRANÇOIS ELINGA. – Dominican theologian and polemicist, b. in Bruges c. 1635, d. there 22 Nov. 1715. He entered the religious life in his native city (1653), studied at Louvain, and taught at Antwerp, where he also served as regent of studies (1671–83). In 1675 he obtained the mastership in theology and twice served as provincial of the Low Countries (1684–88; 1696–1700).
He wrote several works in polemic against the Franciscan Pedro de Alva on the question of the Immaculate Conception. More significant are his works in defense of the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff: Summa totius doctrinae de Pontificis auctoritate et infallibilitate (Bruges 1690), against Natale Alessi and Félix Deschamps; Suprema Romana pontificis auctoritas eiusque extra concilium generale definitis infallibilitas (ibid. 1698), against Gilbert de Choisel, bishop of Tournai; Forme en Wesen van de Kerche Christ (Antwerp 1702), against Protestants. He had already defended the same doctrine in a treatise prefixed to his edition of the Summa Conciliorum of Bartolomé Carranza (Louvain 1668). He also wrote in defense of the Dominican doctrine on grace; noteworthy is Veritas manifestata circa prae-determinationem physicam (Antwerp 1675).