SYLVIUS (DU BOIS), FRANÇOIS. - Theologian, b. at Braine-le-Comte (Belgium) in 1581, d. at Douai on 27 Feb. 1649.
He studied philosophy at Louvain and theology at the University of Douai, where he took his degree in 1610. Upon the death of Estius (1613), he became professor of theology at the same University, where he remained throughout his life, contributing greatly to the renown of the Douai school. Inferior to Estius in knowledge of Scripture, he surpassed him in speculative penetration and in adherence to the spirit and letter of St. Thomas, of whom he is still regarded as one of the best interpreters in the Commentaria in Sum. Theol. s. Thomae (4 vols., Douai 1620-35; 2nd ed. ibid. 1622-48; 3rd ed. Antwerp 1698). On Thomistic subjects he had already published noteworthy works: S. Thomae A. opuscula (2 vols., Douai 1608-1609); Explicatio doctrinae s. Thomae... de motione primi motoris (ibid. 1609); Liber sententiarum... de statu hominis post peccatum (ibid. 1614). Besides various essays on moral theology and 19 Orationes theologicae (ibid. 1621), mention should be made of the pamphlets in which he resolutely opposed the nascent Jansenism: Litterae... ad Leopoldum Belgii gubernatorem (ibid. 1648); Veritas et aequitas censurae pontificiae... super 79 articulis dammatis (ibid. 1649). Of lesser importance is his Commentarium in Gen. (ibid. 1639). All his works were edited by Fr. Norbert d'Elbecque O.P. at Antwerp in 1698, and reprinted in Paris in 1714 and in Venice in 1726.