Honorific-Prefix: | His Excellency |
Leon Lemmens | |
Auxiliary Bishop of Flemish Brabant and Mechelen | |
Province: | Belgium |
Diocese: | Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels |
Enthroned: | 3 April 2011 |
Predecessor: | Jozef De Kesel |
Ordination: | 10 July 1977 |
Consecration: | 3 April 2011 |
Birth Date: | 1954 3, df=yes |
Birth Place: | Boorsem |
Death Place: | Leuven, Belgium |
Nationality: | Belgian |
Religion: | Roman Catholic |
Residence: | Mechelen |
Motto: | Populum humilem et pauperem (A humble and poor people) |
Coat Of Arms: | Coat of arms of Leon Lemmens.svg |
Leon Lemmens (16 March 1954 – 2 June 2017) was a Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in Belgium.
Lemmens, a native of Maasmechelen, was ordained a priest on 10 July 1977. He was named an auxiliary bishop to the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 February 2011 and consecrated on 3 April 2011.[1]
Lemmens followed high school at the Klein Seminarie in Sint-Truiden. He entered seminary in Sint-Truiden (1971-1976) and was ordained to the priesthood to the Diocese of Hasselt on 10 July 1977. He obtained a bachelor in theology at the KU Leuven (1976) and studies moral theology in Rome. He obtained a licentiate in moral theology (1979) and became doctor in theology in 1989.[2]
He worked as a parish priest in Genk (1981-1984). In 1984 he became professor at the seminary in Hasselt. From 1986 to 1997 he was a member of the Interdiocesan Commission on Liturgy and from 1990 to 1995 he was responsible for vocations. In 1994-1995 he took charge of the organisation of the meeting of young people with the pope in Brussels.[3]
In 2004 he became rector of the Romanian College in Rome and in 2005 he was an official at the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Churches of the Roman Curia.[4]
On 22 February 2011, pope Benedict XVI appointed Lemmens as auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, with the responsibility for the vicariate Vlaams-Brabant & Mechelen. He was a Municipa.[5] [6]
He was consecrated on 3 April 2011 in the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg by archbishop André-Joseph Léonard.[7]
Lemmens was a member of the Community of Sant'Egidio from 1977 until his death.[8] He died from leukemia on 2 June 2017 in Leuven, Belgium.[9] His funeral service on 10 June was held in St. Rumbold's Cathedral, Mechelen, which was filled to capacity.[10]