Canon de Haerne

Désiré de Haerne
Lithograph after an 1858 photograph by Brandt & Detrez
Born	Désiré-Pierre-Antoine de Haerne (1804-07-04)4 July 1804 Ypres
Died	22 March 1890(1890-03-22) (aged 85) Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels
Nationality	Belgium
Occupation	politician, catholic priest
Known for	signer of Belgian constitution
Political party	catholic democrat

Désiré de Haerne (4 July 1804 - 22 March 1890) was a Catholic priest, who was one of the signers of the Belgian constitution. He also founded the St John's Catholic School for the Deaf, which today is located in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, and he was for a time director of the Royal Institution for Deaf (and Dumb Girls) in Brussels, Belgium.

Désiré-Pierre-Antoine de Haerne was born on 4 July 1804 in Ypres, Belgium, when it was part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. His parents were Pierre de Haerne (1780-1849), a lace merchant and minor government official, and Sophie-Catherine van der Ghote. His brother Auguste de Haerne (1806-1870) became the "Doyen of Ninove", probably at the abbey of St. Cornelius, where he had a dozen priests under his direction; and another brother Louis de Haerne (1817-1887) became the king’s district commissioner of Eeklo (Echlo), and at times was administrator of the districts of Turnhout, Tielt and Roeselare (Roulers).

Désiré decided to enter the church, and after completing his studies at the College of Ypres and then the Seminary of Ghent, he taught during 1824-25 school year at the College of Courtrai. He was ordained a deacon in 1827, and then a priest in 1828. After which he was appointed in 1829 as the Vicar of Moorslede, but served there only ten months. When he wrote against the Dutch King William I, he was forced in 1830 to flee Belgium, disguised as a horse merchant, and take refuge in France. He returned the following year when Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands, and was elected in 1830, at the age of just 26, as the representative of Roeselare to the congress that helped to frame the Belgian constitution. Then for thirteen years he was professor of Rhetoric at the College of Courtrai. He returned to politics in 1844 and became a member of the Belgian parliament, representing for the next 46 years the district of Courtrai. He also received in 1855 the honorary title of Canon of the Cathedral of Bruges, and Pope Pius IX in 1870 made him a bishop.