Jacobus Wemmers

Most Reverend

Jacobus Wemmers
Titular Bishop of Memphis
ChurchCatholic Church
In office1645
SuccessorFrancisco Suárez de Villegas
Orders
Consecration24 April 1645
by Jerónimo Domín Funes
Personal details
Born(1598-10-21)21 October 1598
Antwerp, Duchy of Brabant, Spanish Netherlands
Died21 August 1645(1645-08-21) (aged 46)
Naples, Kingdom of Naples

Jacobus Wemmers (1598–1645) was a Carmelite friar who served as apostolic legate to Ethiopia, and briefly bore the title of Titular Bishop of Memphis (1645).[1]

Biography

Jacobus Wemmers was born in Antwerp, Duchy of Brabant (now Belgium), on 21 October 1598, the son of Gisbert Wemmers and Marie Hanotel.[2] He entered the Carmelite Order on 22 September 1616, and made his vows on 25 of September the following year. He showed a love of learning, and obtained a doctorate in theology.[3]

On 3 May 1640 Pope Urban VIII appointed him apostolic legate to Ethiopia, with faculties to use the Ethiopian liturgical rite.[4]

He was appointed Titular Bishop of Memphis on 24 April 1645, in the pontificate of Pope Innocent X, and on 5 June was consecrated bishop by Jerónimo Domín Funes, Bishop of Gaeta, with Placido Padiglia, Bishop of Alessano, and Francesco de' Notari, Bishop of Lavello, serving as co-consecrators.[5]

He died in Naples on 21 August 1645 ("the 12th of the calends of September"), while en route to Ethiopia.[2] He was buried in Santa Maria del Carmine, Naples, with an epitaph reading

D.O.M. Illustrissimus ac Reverendissimus Dom Fr. Jacobus Wemmers, Antverpiensis Carmelita, Mempheos Episcopus, scientiis, moribusque præclarus: gregem ardens maximè, ardores minimi facit æstivos: pro Ægypto cælum appellit: & qui Ecclesiæ multa scripsit, huic Ecclesiæ adscripsit ossa XII. kalendas septembris, anno Domini M.DC.XLV.

Works

References

  1. ^ Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, Vol IV (in Latin). Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. p. 239.
  2. ^ a b Jean-Noël Paquot, Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire littéraire des dix-sept provinces des Pays-Bas, de la principauté de Liège, et de quelques contrées voisines, vol. 5 (Leuven, University Press, 1765), pp. 230-232.
  3. ^ Descriptions historiques, chronologique et géographique du duché de Brabant (Brussels, 1756), p. 251.
  4. ^ New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, vol. 5 (2003), p. 404.
  5. ^ Cheney, David M. "Bishop Jacobus Wemmers, O. Carm". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. [self-published]
  6. ^ On Google Books.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
 Titular Bishop of Memphis
1645 		Succeeded by