Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen
Encyclopedia
Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen (5 September 1796–1862) was a Belgian
lawyer, founder of the Université libre de Bruxelles
, and liberal politician. He was chairman of the Belgian House of Parliament (from 28 June 1848 to 28 September 1852 and from 17 December 1857 to June 1859)
, where he lived his whole life, and part of a Catholic family of lawyers from the region of Haacht
. The Verhaegens had an academic background; two of them had been principals of the University of Leuven. Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, his godfather, had been the last headmaster of the old Université catholique de Louvain
, before it was closed by the French revolutionary troops. The family went on to become part of the Catholic elite of Belgium, and was raised to the nobility, which Pierre-Théodore always refused. They married into families such as Carton de Wiart and Wouters d'Oplinter.
His best-known descendant is possibly his grandson Arthur Verhaegen, architect (especially of Catholic school buildings), Conservative-Catholic member of parliament, and founder of the antisocialist worker association and the Catholic daily Het Volk
. Father Philippe Verhaegen was spiritual advisor to king Baudouin I of Belgium for 20 years.
in Brussels. When in 1815, French predominance had been replaced by Dutch
, through the union with the Netherlands under king William I of the Netherlands
, he became a lawyer himself. His first large case involved three priests accused of disobedience to the regime of Williamm I. His legal practice made him a wealthy man.
An important step in its life was undoubtedly his decision to join freemasonry
. In 1823, he was inaugurated in the Brussels Lodge L'Espérance, presided by the Prince of Orange
. His relations with the prince led to an appointment as burgomaster
of Watermaal-Bosvoorde, then still a very rural municipality to the Zoniën forest.
He became an Orangist, a partisan of the more or less enlightened regime of William I (which strongly promoted public education). With the Belgian revolution
of 1830 he did not want to be involved. As a burgomaster he ensured that it remained calm in Bosvoorde. After the Belgian state was definitively founded, he understood that the Orangism had no future and he chose the side of the Belgian liberals. In 1833, he was Master of the Masonic lodge Les Amis Philanthropes in Brussels. It was his intention to let Belgian Freemasonry, with its progressive ideas, play a more leading role in Belgian politics. However, this stance lead to opposition within the Grand Orient itself as well as from Masonic organizations abroad. Verhaegen was Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Belgium
from 1854-1862
From this moment on Verhaegen started the development of a real Liberal Party
. The first liberal electoral association in Belgium, the Alliance of Brussels, grew out of his lodge Les Amis Philantropes. Verhaegen himself, from 1836 up to 1859, was a liberal member of parliament for Brussels. Twice (1848-1852 and 1857-1859) he was Chairman of the House of Parliament. Doctrinary and anticlerical, the liberals then formed the political left wing of Belgian politics, Verhaegen himself in those days had pronounced progressive ideas. He was real doctrinary liberal. A convinced monarchist, he was opposed to revolutions and no proponent of general voting rights. He was opposed against a general learning duty, because he feared that especially the catholic schools would profit of it. This however does not mean that he was insensitive for the needs of the lower classes. He was opposed to taxes, especially those that affected the poor. As a child of the Enlightenment
, he was convinced that the progress of humanity would eventually lead to a general prosperity. As a perfectly bilingual inhabitant of Brussels, Verhaegen, who had frequently pleaded under the Dutch rule in Dutch, considered himself a Fleming
. Although he preferred French and found it normal that this was the official language of Belgium, he thought that the Flemish language had to be treated equitably, also in education. He was not an atheist, but he was anticlerical in the strict meaning of the word: someone who is opposed against the influence of the clergy on society. This strong antagonist of the catholic party called himself in public a catholic, even a catholic better than his clerical antagonists. He regularly attended mass, to the despair of his political enemies.
He donated an important amount of money for the construction of a church in Bosvoorde. He was convinced that religion was very important for people (most of the Belgian liberals and freemasons of that time were in some degree religious, even if they had to break with the Catholic Church). But the place of the priest was for him in the church, not in public life and politics. He denounced vehemently the influence of the church on the state and science, which in his opinion had an oppressing and reactionary influence on progress, and even was in his opinion disadvantageous for true religion It was a time in which Pope Pius IX
condemned the Belgian constitutional freedoms, also the freedom of opinion expression, as misleadings (Quanta Cura
issued on 8 December 1864 - against modernism).
Still, Verhaegen remained a religious man, attending mass on Sunday and financing church constructions in Brussels.
Thousands of people attended his funeral service—politicians, professors, students and alumni of the ULB. Twenty years after his death, the lodge Les Amis Philantropes erected a statue of Verhaegen in front of his grave. In 1865, his admirers erected a statue of him, which now stands by the main building of the ULB at avenue Franklin Roosevelt in Brussels.
, but also the astronomer and statistician Adolphe Quetelet
.
The Belgian bishops founded a new Catholic University in Mechelen
to regain the influence on higher education they lost under French and Dutch rule. The government was to close the State University of Leuven, which Willem I founded as a replacement for the old University that closed under French rule, and let it reopen as a Catholic University. The anticlericals considered this as a declaration of war. Auguste Baron, who had become a member of the Les Amis Philantropes, could convince Verhaegen for his idea and on 24 June 1834 Verhaegen presented the plan in a speech during a banquet of his Lodge:
If we speak about the light of the century, we let thus everything to do promte it, but also, in the first place, protect it because our enemies are ready to extinguish it . We must rise against fanaticism, we must attack it frontally and with eradicate it to its roots. Compared with the schools they wish to set up, we must place a pure morally justified education, about which we will keep the control. (...) A free university should form the counterbalance for the so-called catholic university.
The speech caused so much enthusiasm that immediately money was collected for the plan. Already on 20 November of that year the Free University of Brussels
(now split into Université Libre de Bruxelles
and Vrije Universiteit Brussel
) was created in the Gothic room of the town-hall of Brussels. Although he was not the real inventor of a university in Brussels, he was to be its motivating force. He was first an ordinary member of the Council of management, but already rapidly he took as inspector-administrator the control of the university. Certainly the first fifteen years of its existence the Free University of Brussels
had it particularly difficult financially. At that time, the state provided no subsidies, even no study grants. Besides the college money and some support of the city of Brussels its income came from grants. Some professors, such as Verhaegen himself, received no income for their teaching. In those years, Verhaegen organized fundraising
events to help the university consolidate its position. Above all, he gave the university an ideal, a mission statement, which he summarized in a declaration he wrote. He launched it in 1854, in a speech to king Leopold I of Belgium
:
Under these freedoms, which were refused or opposed, there is one, freedom of research, which places the university of Brussels above all other, which is the essence of sciences. Being able to examine what is of great value for mankind and for society, free from each politically and religious authority (...) to reach towards the sources of truth and the good, (...) see here your Majesty, the role of our university, its reason for existence.
Free research was for him "the independence of the human reason" but and he realized already too well that this reason came in collision with religious dogmas:
I say that it is impossible to provide higher education without more or less touching to the dogmas of this or that church.
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Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
lawyer, founder of the Université libre de Bruxelles
Université Libre de Bruxelles
The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
, and liberal politician. He was chairman of the Belgian House of Parliament (from 28 June 1848 to 28 September 1852 and from 17 December 1857 to June 1859)
Family history
He was born in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, where he lived his whole life, and part of a Catholic family of lawyers from the region of Haacht
Haacht
Haacht is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Haacht proper, Kelfs, Tildonk, Wakkerzeel and Wespelaar.On January 1, 2006 Haacht had a total population of 13,608...
. The Verhaegens had an academic background; two of them had been principals of the University of Leuven. Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, his godfather, had been the last headmaster of the old Université catholique de Louvain
Université catholique de Louvain
The Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...
, before it was closed by the French revolutionary troops. The family went on to become part of the Catholic elite of Belgium, and was raised to the nobility, which Pierre-Théodore always refused. They married into families such as Carton de Wiart and Wouters d'Oplinter.
His best-known descendant is possibly his grandson Arthur Verhaegen, architect (especially of Catholic school buildings), Conservative-Catholic member of parliament, and founder of the antisocialist worker association and the Catholic daily Het Volk
Het Volk (newspaper)
Het Volk was a Belgian newspaper that focused on "news with a human undertone".-Mission statement:"You will find what you are looking for in Het Volk, the only newspaper where people really make the news. You will read everything on small and big events in your neighborhoods, your cities and far...
. Father Philippe Verhaegen was spiritual advisor to king Baudouin I of Belgium for 20 years.
Life
Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen grew up when Belgium was incorporated into France. The influence of the French revolution was large, certainly in his birth city Brussels, where his father had established himself as a lawyer. He went to school at the Lycée impérial, and afterwards went on to study law at the Ecole de Droit, which had been founded by Napoleon I of FranceNapoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
in Brussels. When in 1815, French predominance had been replaced by Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, through the union with the Netherlands under king William I of the Netherlands
William I of the Netherlands
William I Frederick, born Willem Frederik Prins van Oranje-Nassau , was a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg....
, he became a lawyer himself. His first large case involved three priests accused of disobedience to the regime of Williamm I. His legal practice made him a wealthy man.
An important step in its life was undoubtedly his decision to join freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
. In 1823, he was inaugurated in the Brussels Lodge L'Espérance, presided by the Prince of Orange
William II of the Netherlands
William II was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg from 7 October 1840 until his death in 1849.- Early life and education :...
. His relations with the prince led to an appointment as burgomaster
Burgomaster
Burgomaster is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration...
of Watermaal-Bosvoorde, then still a very rural municipality to the Zoniën forest.
He became an Orangist, a partisan of the more or less enlightened regime of William I (which strongly promoted public education). With the Belgian revolution
Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the Southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium....
of 1830 he did not want to be involved. As a burgomaster he ensured that it remained calm in Bosvoorde. After the Belgian state was definitively founded, he understood that the Orangism had no future and he chose the side of the Belgian liberals. In 1833, he was Master of the Masonic lodge Les Amis Philanthropes in Brussels. It was his intention to let Belgian Freemasonry, with its progressive ideas, play a more leading role in Belgian politics. However, this stance lead to opposition within the Grand Orient itself as well as from Masonic organizations abroad. Verhaegen was Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Belgium
Grand Orient of Belgium
The Grand Orient of Belgium The Grand Orient of Belgium The Grand Orient of Belgium (French: Grand Orient de Belgique, Dutch: Grootoosten van Belgie (G.O.B.) is a Belgian cupola of masonic lodges which is only accessible for men, and works in the basic three symbolic degrees of freemasonry.-History:...
from 1854-1862
From this moment on Verhaegen started the development of a real Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Belgium)
The Liberal Party was a Belgian political party that existed from 1846 until 1961, when it became the Party for Freedom and Progress, Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang/Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès or PVV-PLP, under the leadership of Omer Vanaudenhove.-History:The Liberal Party was founded...
. The first liberal electoral association in Belgium, the Alliance of Brussels, grew out of his lodge Les Amis Philantropes. Verhaegen himself, from 1836 up to 1859, was a liberal member of parliament for Brussels. Twice (1848-1852 and 1857-1859) he was Chairman of the House of Parliament. Doctrinary and anticlerical, the liberals then formed the political left wing of Belgian politics, Verhaegen himself in those days had pronounced progressive ideas. He was real doctrinary liberal. A convinced monarchist, he was opposed to revolutions and no proponent of general voting rights. He was opposed against a general learning duty, because he feared that especially the catholic schools would profit of it. This however does not mean that he was insensitive for the needs of the lower classes. He was opposed to taxes, especially those that affected the poor. As a child of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, he was convinced that the progress of humanity would eventually lead to a general prosperity. As a perfectly bilingual inhabitant of Brussels, Verhaegen, who had frequently pleaded under the Dutch rule in Dutch, considered himself a Fleming
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
. Although he preferred French and found it normal that this was the official language of Belgium, he thought that the Flemish language had to be treated equitably, also in education. He was not an atheist, but he was anticlerical in the strict meaning of the word: someone who is opposed against the influence of the clergy on society. This strong antagonist of the catholic party called himself in public a catholic, even a catholic better than his clerical antagonists. He regularly attended mass, to the despair of his political enemies.
He donated an important amount of money for the construction of a church in Bosvoorde. He was convinced that religion was very important for people (most of the Belgian liberals and freemasons of that time were in some degree religious, even if they had to break with the Catholic Church). But the place of the priest was for him in the church, not in public life and politics. He denounced vehemently the influence of the church on the state and science, which in his opinion had an oppressing and reactionary influence on progress, and even was in his opinion disadvantageous for true religion It was a time in which Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
condemned the Belgian constitutional freedoms, also the freedom of opinion expression, as misleadings (Quanta Cura
Quanta Cura
There is also an earlier encyclical of the same title, issued in 1741 by Pope Benedict XIV, forbidding traffic in alms. -Historical context:The encyclical was prompted by the September Convention of 1864, an agreement between the Kingdom of Italy and the Second French Empire of Napoleon III,...
issued on 8 December 1864 - against modernism).
Still, Verhaegen remained a religious man, attending mass on Sunday and financing church constructions in Brussels.
Thousands of people attended his funeral service—politicians, professors, students and alumni of the ULB. Twenty years after his death, the lodge Les Amis Philantropes erected a statue of Verhaegen in front of his grave. In 1865, his admirers erected a statue of him, which now stands by the main building of the ULB at avenue Franklin Roosevelt in Brussels.
Foundation of a university
It is within the social and political situation of Belgium in those days, the foundation of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles must be seen. Already in 1831, a group of intellectuals pointed to the advantages of a university in the capital. One of them was Auguste BaronAuguste Baron
Auguste Alexis Floréal Baron was a Belgian study prefect of Royal Athenaeum of Brussels and the first secretary of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles.-Career:...
, but also the astronomer and statistician Adolphe Quetelet
Adolphe Quetelet
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist. He founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences...
.
The Belgian bishops founded a new Catholic University in Mechelen
Mechelen
Mechelen Footnote: Mechelen became known in English as 'Mechlin' from which the adjective 'Mechlinian' is derived...
to regain the influence on higher education they lost under French and Dutch rule. The government was to close the State University of Leuven, which Willem I founded as a replacement for the old University that closed under French rule, and let it reopen as a Catholic University. The anticlericals considered this as a declaration of war. Auguste Baron, who had become a member of the Les Amis Philantropes, could convince Verhaegen for his idea and on 24 June 1834 Verhaegen presented the plan in a speech during a banquet of his Lodge:
If we speak about the light of the century, we let thus everything to do promte it, but also, in the first place, protect it because our enemies are ready to extinguish it . We must rise against fanaticism, we must attack it frontally and with eradicate it to its roots. Compared with the schools they wish to set up, we must place a pure morally justified education, about which we will keep the control. (...) A free university should form the counterbalance for the so-called catholic university.
The speech caused so much enthusiasm that immediately money was collected for the plan. Already on 20 November of that year the Free University of Brussels
Free University of Brussels
The Free University of Brussels was a university in Brussels, Belgium. In 1969, it split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel....
(now split into Université Libre de Bruxelles
Université Libre de Bruxelles
The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
and Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Flemish university located in Brussels, Belgium. It has two campuses referred to as Etterbeek and Jette.The university's name is sometimes abbreviated by "VUB" or translated to "Free University of Brussels"...
) was created in the Gothic room of the town-hall of Brussels. Although he was not the real inventor of a university in Brussels, he was to be its motivating force. He was first an ordinary member of the Council of management, but already rapidly he took as inspector-administrator the control of the university. Certainly the first fifteen years of its existence the Free University of Brussels
Free University of Brussels
The Free University of Brussels was a university in Brussels, Belgium. In 1969, it split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel....
had it particularly difficult financially. At that time, the state provided no subsidies, even no study grants. Besides the college money and some support of the city of Brussels its income came from grants. Some professors, such as Verhaegen himself, received no income for their teaching. In those years, Verhaegen organized fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
events to help the university consolidate its position. Above all, he gave the university an ideal, a mission statement, which he summarized in a declaration he wrote. He launched it in 1854, in a speech to king Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
:
Under these freedoms, which were refused or opposed, there is one, freedom of research, which places the university of Brussels above all other, which is the essence of sciences. Being able to examine what is of great value for mankind and for society, free from each politically and religious authority (...) to reach towards the sources of truth and the good, (...) see here your Majesty, the role of our university, its reason for existence.
Free research was for him "the independence of the human reason" but and he realized already too well that this reason came in collision with religious dogmas:
I say that it is impossible to provide higher education without more or less touching to the dogmas of this or that church.
Sources
- Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen
- Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen
- Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen (1796-1862), VUBPRESS, 1996
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