Scheelstrate, Emmanuel De

Scheelstrate, Emmanuel De a Belgian antiquarian and theologian, was born at Antwerp in 1649. In his youth he became much interested in ecclesiastical history, and traveled in France and Italy for the purpose of meeting with the learned men of his day. His first work — on the pontifical prerogative — gained for him a canonry and the position of chorister in the cathedral at Antwerp. Innocent XI called him to Rome, and made him librarian of the Vatican and canon of St. John Lateran. He died in Rome April 6, 1692. Scheelstrate was a great scholar and a most prolific writer, in most of his works maintaining the great dignity of the pope and endeavoring to extend his jurisdiction. Of his works we mention, Antiquitas Illustrata circa Concilia Generalica, etc.

(Antwerp, 1678, 4to) — Ecclesia Africana sub Primate Carthanginiensi (ibid. 1679, 4to), in which he endeavored to prove that this Church recognized the pope as patriarch: — Acta Constantiensis Concilii (ibid. 1683): — De Auctoritate Patriarchali et Metropolitica (ibid. 1687, 4to). See Dupin, Auteurs Ecclesiast.; Niceron, Memoirs.