Jesuit theologian, born Brecht, Belgium, 1554; died Louvain, 1623. Having gained his doctorate of philosophy at Louvain when only seventeen, he entered the Society of Jesus, 1573. He studied theology in Rome, and was sent as professor of theology to Louvain where he remained for 15 years, acquiring a reputation for learning surpassed only by the esteem he was held in for his practice of virtue. His first writing Theses theologicæ (1586), provoked a violent controversy over his doctrine of efficacious grace and biblical inspiration. A brief apologetic work on the true religion effected many conversions. His most valuable treatise, however, is his De justitia et jure, marked by clearness of mind, sound judgment, and common sense. Among his ascetical works are treatises on the Supreme God, the Divine Perfections, and the Names of God; the last named was translated by T. J. Campbell and published in New York, 1912.