Thomas Bouquillon

Born on 16 May 1840 in Warneton, Belgium, the second son among five children in a family of small landholders long established at Warneton near Ypres, he received his early education in local schools and in the College of St Louis at Menin.[11] His course in philosophy was made at Roeselare; in theology, at the seminary of Bruges.[11]

Having entered the Georgian University in Rome, in 1863, he was ordained priest in 1865 and made doctor of theology in 1867.[11] After ten years in the Bruges seminary (1867–77) and eight years in the Catholic University of Lille, France, as professor of moral theology, Bouquillon retired to the Benedictine monastery at Maredsous and devoted his energies to the preparation of the second edition of his treatise on fundamental moral theology.[11]

In 1892 he accepted the chair of moral theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he remained until his death on 5 November 1902 in Brussels, Belgium.[11]

Though never in robust health, he was a tireless student.[11] When he entered the field of moral theology, he found the science enjoying no prestige, dwindled to mere compilations of conclusions to the neglect of principles.[11] It was out of touch, consequently, with the closely related dogmatic and advancing social sciences, and the methods employed in teaching it were far from perfect.[11] In his whole career as professor and author he aimed to rescue moral theology from that condition and to restore to it its proper method and dignity.[11]

He emphasized strongly the historical and sociological aspects of principles and problems in the science.[11] Possibly few theologians of his day were more widely consulted in Europe and America than Bouquillon.[11] He enjoyed and retained the intimate confidence of Pope Leo XIII and of many eminent churchmen, and showed throughout his life devotion to the ideals, teaching, and administration of the Roman Catholic Church.[12] His grasp of current thought developed in him an open-mindedness and a sympathy with real progress.[13]

In 1891, he was induced to publish a pamphlet on education setting forth the abstract principles involved. His views met with considerable opposition. In fact his works on education caused substantial controversy since he had supported the state's claims in the field.[14] In all of his published replies to critics, he maintained his original positions without any modification whatever and ascribed the opposition to misunderstanding of his point of view and of his statement of principles.[13]

He published:

• "Theologia Moralis Fundamentalis" (3d ed., Bruges, 1903)
• "De Virtutibus Theologicis" (2d ed. Bruges, 1890)
• "De Virtute Religionis" (2 vols., Bruges, 1880);
• "Education" (Baltimore, 1892)
• "Education, a Rejoinder to Critics" (Baltimore, 1892)
• "Education, a Rejoinder to the 'Civilatà Cattolica'" (Baltimore, 1892); the last three of these were translated into French

He published many critical studies in the Revue des sciences ecclésiastiques, of which he was at one time editor, in the Nouvelle revue théologique, the Revue Bénédictine, The American Catholic Quarterly, and The Catholic University Bulletin. He edited, with notes and comments,

• Stapleton, "De Magnitudine Ecclesiæ Romanæ" (Bruges, 1881)
• 'Leonis XIII Allocutiones, Epistolæ aliaque acta" (2 vols., Bruges, 1887)
• Platelii, "Synopsis cursus Theologiæ" (Bruges)
• "Catechismus ex decreto Concilii Tridentini" (Tournai, 1890)
• "Dies Sacerdotalis" of Dirckinck (Tournai, 1888)
• Louis de Grenade, "L'Excellence de la très sainte Eucharistic" (Lille)
• Coret, "L'Année sainte" (1676) (Bruges, 1889)

• William J. Kerby

• Biography at The American Catholic History Research Center