Beughem Charles Antoine Francois De Paule De

Beughem Charles Antoine Francois De Paule De a Flemish theologian and scholar, was born at Brussels in 1744. He obtained in 1763 the degree of bachelor in theology at the University of Louvain, and in 1768 he entered upon the ecclesiastical profession. He was successively professor of poetry at Turnhout, director of the College of Courtray, principal of that of Gand, and secretary of the vacant see of the bishopric of Tournay. He demanded of one of the leaders that he should repress habitual begging, and give place to a memorial which the viscount of Vilaine (XIV) had published in 1775 — Sur les Moyens de Corriger les Malfaiteurs et les Faineants. In 1790, the cardinal of Frankenberg, archbishop of Mechlin, chose Beughem for his secretary; but the invasion of the French army in Belgium forced the cardinal to flee, while his secretary, not being willing to take the oath of haine a la royaute, was imprisoned seven months at Mechlin and afterwards at Versailles, from whence he was carried to the Isle of Oleron. At the fall of the empire he returned to his own country, where he sustained a violent controversy against the publicists, who proposed the union of Belgium and Holland. This dispute caused him to write several pamphlets, entitled, Le Bouclier, L'Unite, L'Antidote contre le Somnambulisme. He also took part in the disputes of the bishop of Gand with the government. He died at Brussels in 1820. His principal works are, Documenta e Variis Testamenti Historiis Petita (Mechlin, 1797); this is a collection of Latin, Flemish, and French verses, which is only ordinary: — Fructus Suppressa Cortraci Mendicitate Exorti (Courtray, 1776); translated into Flemish by Wolf, echevin of Courtray: — Oratio in Funere Marice Theresice (Gand, 1781). See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.