Against strong opposition he entered the seminary of Münster and was ordained priest in 1816 by Bishop Kaspar Droste zu Vischering.

King William I of the Netherlands offered van Bommel the presidency of another college, but met with a firm refusal.

[1] Bishop van Bommel was a defender of the primacy of the Holy See, an opponent of Freemasonry, and an advocate of religious education.

At the reorganization of public instruction in 1842, his educational views were put in force in those gymnasia and technical schools which the State maintained wholly or in part.

His writings comprise three volumes of Pastoral Letters, and a number of pamphlets on ecclesiastical and educational questions.