Alegambe, Philippe D’

ALEGAMBE, ɑ̄´´lê-gɑ̄mb´, PHILIPPE D’: Jesuit theologian and literary historian; b. in Brussels Jan. 22, 1592; d. in Rome Sept. 6, 1652. He entered the Jesuit order at Palermo in 1613, taught theology at Graz, and accompanied the son 114 of Prince von Eggenberg, the favorite of Ferdinand II., on his travels. Then he returned to Graz for a time, but in 1638 was called to Rome as secretary for German affairs to the general of his order. Here he remained until his death, acting in later years as spiritual director of the Roman house. Of his writings the most noteworthy is the Bibliotheca scriptorum societatis Jesu (Antwerp, 1643), based upon an earlier catalogue of Jesuit writers by Peter Ribadeneira (1608, 1613), but much surpassing it in learning and thoroughness. Though betraying the Jesuit spirit, it shows, on the other hand, signs of an attempt at impartiality, proving, for example, that various books against the royal power, the episcopate, and the Sorbonne, the authorship of which the French Jesuits had tried to deny, were really written by them. A new and enlarged edition by an English Jesuit, Nathaniel Southwell, appeared at Rome in 1676. The work is now superseded by the Bibliothèque des Écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus of Augustin and Aloys de Backer (7 vols., Liége, 1853-61; new ed. by C. Sommervogel, 9 vols., Brussels, 1890-1900).

(A. Hauck).