Lawrence Beyerlinck

The son of a pharmacist, he prepared at Leuven for the same profession but, deciding to enter the priesthood, he was ordained June, 1602.

While a theological student he taught poetry and rhetoric at the college of Vaulx and as pastor of Herent was professor of philosophy at a nearby seminary of canons regular.

Beyerlinck was a priest, a rhetorician, orator, and administrator, and engaged continually in preaching and writing.

He wrote, e.g. a second volume (Antwerp, 1611) of the Opus Chronographicum orbis universi a mundi exordio usque ad annum MDCXI (first volume to year 1572 by Opmeer), a collection of lives of popes, rulers, and illustrious men; and the Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae (Cologne, 1631, 7 vols; Lyon 1665-6, 8 vols; Venice, 1707, 8 vols), an encyclopedia of information on diverse subjects arranged in alphabetical order.

[3] Much of its material was gathered by others, most notably Theodor Zwinger's Theatrum Humanae Vitae,[4] but Beyerlinck gave the work its final form.