LAFORÈT, NICOLAS-JOSEPH. - Belgian prelate and theologian, b. at Graide on 23 Feb. 1823, d. at Louvain on 26 Jan. 1872. He was professor and then rector magnificus (1865) of the University of Louvain, where he promoted the development of traditionalism.
He wrote important works: Dissertatio historico-dogmatica de methodo theologiae sive de auctoritate Ecclesiae Catholicae tamquam regula fidei christianae (Louvain 1849); Coup d'oeil sur l'histoire de la théologie dogmatique (ibid. 1851); Philosophie morale (ibid. 1855); Dogmes catholiques exposés, prouvés et vengés des attaques de l'hérésie et de l'incrédulité (4 vols., Brussels 1855-59); La papauté et la civilisation européenne (Louvain 1860); Des erreurs philosophiques contemporaines (ibid. 1862); Le Syllabus et les plaies de la société moderne (ibid. 1872, posthumous). He published other works and many articles in scholarly journals.