Malines Congresses Explained

The Malines Congresses were a series of Catholic Congresses held in Mechelen (French: Malines), Belgium, with the purpose of bringing together Catholics with leading roles in all walks of life, on the model of the German Katholikentage.^[1] The first three, held in 1863, 1864 and 1867, had considerable cultural, social and political impact.^[2] They lay at the foundation of the future development of a Catholic Party in Belgian politics,^[3] as well as a nascent Social Catholicism.^[4] The first congress saw the establishment of the Guild of Saint Thomas and Saint Luke, which shaped Belgian Gothic Revival architecture and art education.^[5] The main organiser of the first three congresses was Édouard Ducpétiaux, who died in 1868.^[6] They were hosted in Mechelen by the archbishop, Engelbert Sterckx, who died in December 1867,^[4] although much of the practical management fell to Isidore-Joseph du Rousseaux, a teacher at the junior seminary where many of the sessions were held.^[7]

Further congresses were held in 1891, 1909,^[8] and 1936.

First Congress

The first Catholic Congress in Mechelen was held from 18 to 22 August 1863.^[1] The main speakers invited were Cardinal Wiseman, who spoke on the condition of Catholics in England, and Charles de Montalembert, who spoke on the principle of religious liberty.^[9]

Second Congress

The second congress was held from 29 August to 3 September 1864.^[1] For the occasion, an exhibition of ecclesiastical art was organised in Mechelen through to the end of September.^[10]

Third Congress

The third congress was held from 2 to 7 September 1867.^[1] It led directly to the 1868 founding of a Federation of Belgian Catholic Workers' Associations (a precursor of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions).^[11]

Sixth Congress

The sixth congress was held in 1936. On 10 September, Georges Lemaître delivered an address on Catholic culture and exact science.^[12] The papers delivered to the sixth congress were published in French and in Dutch as an eight-volume series entitled Actes du VIe Congrès catholique de Malines and Verhandelingen van het VIe Katholiek Kongres van Mechelen respectively.

Notes and References

1. M. Defourny, Les Congrès Catholiques en Belgique (Leuven, 1908) On Internet Archive.
2. Jan Aart, Jan De Maeyer, Ward De Pril and Leo Kenis, "Church Reform and Modernity in Belgium", in The Dynamics of Religious Reform in Northern Europe, 1780-1920. II: The Churches, edited by Joris van Eijnatten and Paula Yates (Leuven, 2010), p. 112.
3. Stathis N. Kalyvas, The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe (Cornell University Press, 1996), pp. 187-188.
4. Carl Strikwerda, "Malines Congress", Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics: L-Z, edited by Roy Palmer Domenico and Mark Y. Hanley (Greenwood Press, 2006), pp. 351-352.
5. Jan De Maeyer, "Pro Arte Christiana: Catholic Art Guilds, Gothic Revival and the Cultural Identity of the Rhine-Meuse Region", in Historism and Cultural Identity in the Rhine-Meuse Region, edited by Wolfgang Cortjaens and Tom Verschaffel (Leuven, 2008), pp. 161-162.
6. [Edmond Rubbens]
7. A. Simon, "Rousseaux (Isidore-Joseph du)", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 30 (Brussels, 1958), 752.
8. [Frans Van Cauwelaert]
9. News: The Roman Catholic Congress at Malines. 16 Oct 1863. Empire.
10. [William Henry James Weale]
11. Jan De Maeyer, "La Ligue Démocratique Belge et ses antécédents", in Histoire du mouvement ouvrier chrétien en Belgique, edited by Emmanuel Gerard and Paul Wynants, vol. 2 (Leuven, 1994), p. 20.
12. Georges Lemaître, "La culture catholique et les sciences positives", in Actes du VIe Congrès catholique de Malines, vol. 5 (Brussels, 1937), pp. 65-70.