Cornelius Hazart

Cornelius Hazart

Controversialist, orator, and writer, b. 28 October, 1617, at Oudenarde in the Netherlands; entered the Society of Jesus, 24 Sept., 1634; d. 25 October, 1690, at Antwerp. He was ordained priest, 6 April, 1647, at Louvain, where he had already the reputation of perfectus orator; was professed on 1 Nov., 1651; and preached during a period of thirty-six years, for a time at Dunkirk and Brussels, permanently at Antwerp. Hazart's life, apart from the duties of his pastoral office, was almost exclusively taken up with the struggle against the Calvinists of the Low Countries. There were times when his activities extended beyond the frontiers of his native country, as was shown by his "Epistola ad Langravium Hassiæ-Rheinfeldtium". This conflict was waged in part from the pulpit. He delivered at the church of the professed house at Antwerp, a series of sermons on controverted questions, and some of these he preached in the open market-place, before the numerous Calvinists who were assembled there for the festivities held in connection with church dedication services. His forte, however, lay rather in the domain of literary endeavour. Sommervogel enumerates about ninety writings of his, chiefly in the Dutch tongue. Among his larger systematized works it is worthwhile to note particularly the "Kerkelijke Historie van de geeheele wereldt" (Universal Church History), 4 vols. (Antwerp, 1667-71). This, although somewhat antiquated, perhaps, as a mission and church history, remains, nevertheless, serviceable to this day; it was translated into high German and added to by other Jesuits, under the title "Kirchengeschichte, das ist katholiches Christendum, durch die ganze Welt verbreitet". All of Hazart's writings are apologetic and polemical in character. They treat of Holy Mass, the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, the invocation of the saints, the force of good works, auricular confession, extreme unction, purgatory, idolatry, the primacy and infallibility of the pope, the Roman catechism, in short, all of those questions which owing to the attacks of the preachers had become of more special present interest and concern. Next to Holy Writ, Hazart looked preferable to the Fathers of the first four centuries for his proofs. he was quick at refutation, and showed himself a tactician of the highest order, but had the faults of the polemical writers of those tumultuous times. In the case of Schuler, he contented himself with a "Vriendelyke t'saemen-spraek tuschen D. Joannes Schulen Predicant tot Breda ende P. C. Hazart" (A friendly colloquy between John Schuler, preacher of Breda, and P. C. Hazart). The estimation in which his books were held may be gleaned from the number of their new editions and of their translations into the German, from the retorts of his opponents, and from the fact that many of his writings, such as "Triomph de pausen van Roomen" (Triumph of the Roman Pontiffs) gave rise to voluminous literature.

Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, IV, 181-97.

N. SCHIED