LOVANIO, UNIVERSITY OF. — Founded on 9 December 1425 by Pope Martino V at the request of Giovanni IV, Duke of Brabant, in order to attract to the capital of the Duchy the young men of the Low Countries who were heading for Cologne and, above all, Paris. As early as 7 March 1432, Pope Eugenio IV granted permission for the establishment of a Faculty of Theology.
From 1425 to 1797 the University retained its original religious and civic character, continuing to depend both on the authority of the Holy See and on that of the national powers; it remained the only university in the Low Countries until the foundation of that of Douai (1560) for the Walloon provinces and of that of Leyda (1575) for the Protestant provinces of the North, which had become independent. In the Faculty of Theology, Adriano Floriszoon, later Adriano VI, distinguished himself by his teaching. Under Carlo V (1506–55), L. became an important centre of Humanism; the book industry took root and developed there. It was visited by Tommaso More; Erasmo resided there; G. Busleyden founded there the famous Collegium Trilingue; it led the struggle against Luther and counted eminent theologians such as Driedo, Latomus, Tapper, and Hessels; it published an edition of the Vulgate (1547), a Dutch version of the Bible (1548), and an Index of prohibited books (1547). It took part in the Council of Trent and promoted the establishment of new dioceses under Filippo II (M. Dierckx, Deopriching der nieuwe bisdommen in de Nederlanden onder Filips II, Antwerp–Utrecht 1950).
During the Austrian period (1715–94), the State’s interference in the University increased steadily. Giuseppe II indeed established there his famous general Seminarium, which ended in failure, and transferred the Faculties of Law, Medicine, and Arts to Brussels. No sooner had the University been restored to its prerogatives, on 1 March 1790, than it was suppressed and pillaged by the French on 25 October 1797; the Library was sold at auction, the professors dispersed, the revenues confiscated, and many of its colleges demolished or left in poor condition.
The Dutch government attempted to revive it in the form of a state university (1816–30), adding a philosophical college for the clergy. Once freedom of teaching had been secured after the Belgian Revolution, Belgian Catholics were able to bring it back to life, thanks to the episcopate and the secular clergy, who succeeded in creating a movement of sympathy among the population and obtaining the necessary funds. On 1 December 1835, the University resumed possession or use at L. of part of its former buildings.
Among the rectors magnifici who have presided over its activity, two in particular deserve mention. The first is F.-X. de Ram, an eminent historian, who gave the University its new organization; as representative of the episcopate, he practically held the administration of the alma mater in his hands. He broadened its horizons, since, alongside the Faculty of Theology, there were established Faculties of Law, Medicine, Philosophy, and Letters and Sciences; later, the Polytechnics, the Institutes of Agronomy and Commerce, and the Higher Institute of Philosophy were added, always with the aim of recruiting the greatest possible number of professors from among the nation’s finest lay Catholics.
No less important was the rectorship of mons. Ladeuze, a brilliant exegete and pathologist. On 25 August 1914, L. was devastated and the Library burned by the German armies; but its remarkable revival followed immediately: the University’s civil personality, the expansion of the teaching of science and medicine, the new university clinics, the new university centre at Heverlé, and linguistic division. Although this extraordinary development compelled it to accept State subsidies, the independence recognized as belonging to free universities nevertheless remained untouched.
Numerous professors of the restored University distinguished themselves through their work: in theology, mons. Beelen, mons. Lamy, can. Ladeuze, and Van Hoonacker; in law, professors Thomissen, Van den Heuvel, Van Bieriilet, and Poulet; in the social sciences, Perin, Vliebergh, and Brants; in medicine, Van Beneden, Van Gehuchten, and Ide (discovery of the function of vitamins); in the sciences, Gilbert, Henry, Dumont (discovery of the Campine coal basin), Vierendeel, Carnoy, Grégoire, and Biourge (studies on the cell and botany); in philosophy and letters, can. David, prof. Willems, prof. Nève, mons. de Harlez (Orientalist), mons. Mercier (Higher Institute of Philosophy), and can. A. Cauchie (Revue hist. ecclés.).
The University is distinguished above all by the number of scientific journals and collections issued by it: Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses; Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique; Le Muséon; Analecta Lovaniensia Biblica et Orientalia; Revue philosophique de Louvain; Les philosophes belges; Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium; Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniens (in collaboration with the Jesuits and Dominicans of L.); La Cellule; Les lettres romanes; Studia Hellenistica; Recueil des travaux de philosophie et lettres; the collection Dissertationes ad gradum magistri in sacra theologia vel in iure canonico; the Sylloge exceptorum e dissertationibus ad gradum doctoris in theol. vel in iure canonico; Revue médicale de L.; Annuaire de l'Université; Leucense Bijdragen; Monumenta humanistica Lovaniensia; Material for the study of the old English drama; Lovanium.
In the last academic year, 1949–50, the number of students rose to 7,678. Rector of the University since 1940 has been mons. Van Waeyenbergh. During the Second World War, a new total destruction of the Library (17 May 1940) and the ruin of several institutes following an aerial bombardment in May 1944 had to be lamented; but immediately after liberation, the rector ardently set about restoring the destroyed buildings and further enlarging the centuries-old institution.