Adriaensen, Cornelis

Adriaensen, Cornelis, a Flemish preacher of the Order of St. Francis, was born at Dort in 1521, and died at Ypres, July 14,1581. He wrote sermons full of invectives against the leaders of the Huguenots in the Low Countries. There are many editions of these sermons, the first of which was published in 1569. Another at Amsterdam, in 1607 and 1640, bears a figure joined to the title which gives an idea of the character of the book. It represents the strange discipline to which Adriaensen submitted his penitents, in order to deliver them. from the natural timidity which hindered them from boldly confessing to him all their thoughts, their words, their songs, and their actions, which have their origin in the temptations peculiar to the flesh; discipline which Voet called "Disciplinam gymnopygicam Cornelianam," in his Disp. Select. 4:262. -Sander claims that Adriaensen's writings have been corrupted by heretics, in order to expose virtuous people to derision. See Hoefer, Nouv, Biog. Generale, s.v.