PHILIPPE KERSBELE (KERSBELL). — Carmelite theologian, born in Ghent (Belgium) c. 1462, died in Paris on 20 Nov. 1489.
A zealous defender of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, he wrote the *De conceptione Mariae* (London, British Museum, ms. Harley 3838), which, though profound from a theological standpoint, seemed to his contemporaries not sufficiently elegant in literary style. It was directed principally against the work of the Dominican General Vincenzo Bandelli.
BIBL.: C. de Villiers, *Bibl. Carm.*, II, 2nd ed., Rome 1927, pp. 634–35; Anastase de St Paul, s.V. in *DTHC*, VIII, II, cols. 2350–51. Ambrogio di Santa Teresa