Jacobus Boonen was the fourth Archbishop of Mechelen (1621—1655).

Boonen studied at the University of Leuven

Old University of Leuven

The Old University of Leuven is the name historians give to the university, or studium generale, founded in Leuven, Brabant , in 1425, and closed in 1797, a week after the cession to the French Republic of the Austrian Netherlands and the principality of Liège by the Treaty of Campo Formio.When...

 (1587–95) and began a legal career.

He was ordained priest in 1607, becoming a member of the household of Archbishop Mathias Hovius

Mathias Hovius

Mathias Hovius , born Matthijs Van Hove, was from 1569 until 1620 the third primate of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels...

, an ecclesiastical councillor in the Great Council of Mechelen (1611), and Dean of the chapter of St. Rumbold's Cathedral (1612). In 1616 he was consecrated bishop of Ghent

Bishop of Ghent

The Bishop of Ghent is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gent, which comprises the entire province of East Flanders as well as the Antwerp municipalities of Zwijndrecht and Burcht. The current Bishop of Ghent is Mgr...

 and in 1620 Archbishop of Mechelen.

He was a friend of Cornelius Jansen

Cornelius Jansen

Corneille Janssens, commonly known by the Latinized name Cornelius Jansen or Jansenius, was Catholic bishop of Ypres and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism.-Biography:...

, and sabotaged the promulgation of the papal bull

Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

 Cum occasione (31 May 1653) which condemned five propositions extracted from Jansen's writings.

In 1653 he was disciplined by Pope Innocent X, but later obtained his absolution and was reinstated.