| Johannes Franciscus Foppens | |
| Native Name: | Jean François Foppens |
| Native Name Lang: | fr |
| Birth Date: | 17 November 1689 |
| Birth Place: | Brussels, Spanish Netherlands |
| Death Place: | Mechelen, Austrian Netherlands |
| Resting Place: | St. Rumbold's Cathedral |
| Occupation: | clergyman |
| Language: | Latin |
| Education: | Master of Arts, Licentiate of Theology |
| Alma Mater: | Leuven University |
| Genre: | ecclesiastical history, literary biography and bibliography |
| Subjects: | Belgian bishoprics Belgian authors |
| Notableworks: | Bibliotheca belgica, sive virorum in Belgio vita scriptisque illustrium catalogus (2 vols., Brussels, 1739) |
Jean François Foppens, sometimes Latinized Johannes Franciscus Foppens (1689–1761), was a Belgian ecclesiastical historian, and literary biographer and bibliographer. He is best known for his Bibliotheca belgica, sive virorum in Belgio vita scriptisque illustrium catalogus (2 vols., Brussels, 1739), a catalogue of Belgian authors and their works.[1]
Foppens was born in Brussels on 17 November 1689, the son of a family of printers. He was sent to Leuven University in 1704 and graduated Master of Arts in 1706, at the age of 17. Around 1713 he began lecturing on Philosophy at the university while studying Theology. In 1715 he graduated Licentiate of Theology and began a clerical career, holding a canonry of the church of St Martin in Aalst, then St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges, and finally St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen. He died in Mechelen on 16 July 1761 and was buried in the cathedral.