Ambrosius Capello Explained

Type:Bishop
Ambrosius Capello
Honorific-Suffix:O.P.
Bishop of Antwerp
Church:Roman Catholic
Diocese:Antwerp
See:Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)
Appointed:1652
Enthroned:1654
Ended:1676
Predecessor:Gaspard Nemius
Successor:Aubertus van den Eede
Consecration:13 September 1654
Birth Date:1597 6, df=yes
Birth Place:Antwerp
Buried:Antwerp Cathedral
Profession:21 November 1613
Education:Theology
Alma Mater:University of Douai
University of Salamanca
University of Leuven

Ambrosius Capello (1597–1676) was the seventh bishop of Antwerp (1654–1676).[1]

Life

Capello was born in Antwerp on 22 June 1597, the son of an Italian military contractor, Jean-François Capello, and a Netherlandish lady, Marie de Boxhorn. He entered the Dominican Order in 1612 and studied Theology in the universities of Douai, Salamanca and Leuven. He obtained the degree of Doctor of Theology in Leuven in 1627.

He held a number of positions of responsibility in his order – prior of several houses, definitor for the Belgian province, deputy of the province to the general chapter – and in 1642 he was named vice-prefect of the Dutch Mission. In 1652 he was named bishop of Antwerp, but the appointment was not confirmed until 1654. On 13 September 1654, he was consecrated bishop by his predecessor, Gaspard Nemius, who had been transferred to the archdiocese of Cambrai. As bishop, he founded a number of scholarships and a retirement home for aged priests.

Wilhelmus Foppens's Dutch translation of the Roman Catechism (printed by for Joachim van Metelen, Antwerp, 1668; reprinted 1687, 1701) was dedicated to him.[2]

Capello died in Antwerp on 4 October 1676, leaving all his worldly goods to the poor.[3] His ornate Baroque tomb in Antwerp Cathedral, designed by Artus Quellinus II, was the only one to survive the French Revolution.

Notes and References

  1. [Lucien Ceyssens]
  2. The 1687 reprint is available on Google Books
  3. Leo Braeken, De dekenij Herentals, 1603–1669 (Leuven, 1982), p. 71.