FRANCESCO VERVOORT. — Ascetical theologian of the Franciscan Order, born at Malines c. 1500, died there on 24 Sept. 1555.
Little is known of his life. He inherited a large fortune from his parents and, according to his own confession, enjoyed worldly pleasures; but suddenly (after 1520) he entered the Friars Minor at Malines. He acquired an intimate knowledge of ascetical and mystical literature, both ancient and contemporary. When Johannes von Isemborch, Archbishop of Trier, sought an apostolic man who could assist him in the reform of his diocese, V. was proposed by Fr Provincial Holstanus, who praised him in a letter of 30 June 1551, the principal source for V.’s biography. It is not known, however, whether V. actually went to Trier.
FRANCESCO VERVOORT — BISHOP