He entered the Redemptorists in 1873 at Ruremonde and was ordained priest in 1878. He was appointed professor of dogmatic theology at Ruremonde and at the College of Witten, of which he subsequently became prefect of studies (1886) and superior (1893). Called to Rome in 1900, he was appointed consultor of the Congregation of the Holy Office and in 1904 was among the first members of the Pontifical Commission for the Codification of Canon Law. General consultor of his Congregation (1909), he was created cardinal by Bl. Pius X in 1911. After serving as Major Penitentiary (1915), he was called by Benedict XV to the office of Prefect of the Congregation of “Propaganda Fide,” and received episcopal consecration from the same Pontiff.
He was one of the principal collaborators of Pius XI in his extensive work on behalf of the missions and played a major role in the Vatican Missionary Exposition of 1925, in the construction of the new Urban College of “Propaganda Fide,” in the appointment of the first Chinese bishops and the first Japanese bishop, and in the erection of numerous vicariates and apostolic prefectures. He was also papal legate a latere of Bl. Pius X at the International Eucharistic Congress of Vienna (1912) and of Pius XI at that of Amsterdam (1924).
A distinguished scholar of theological studies, he published numerous works, among which are to be noted: *Dissertatio S. Alphonsi de praedestinatione D. N. J. Christi* (Rome 1896); *Commentarius de Iudicio Sacramentali* (Rome 1897); *Alphonsus Maria de Ligorio et Immaculata Conceptionis B. M. V.* (Rome 1904); *De essentia Sacramenti Ordinis* (Freiburg 1914, 2nd ed. 1931); *Aan mijne Katholieke landgenooten* (Rotterdam 1923).