Engelbert Sterckx
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His Eminence Engelbert Sterckx |
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| Cardinal, Archbishop of Mechelen Primate of Belgium |
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| Church | Roman Catholic |
| Archdiocese | Mechelen |
| Appointed | 24 February 1832 |
| In office | 1832-1867 |
| Predecessor | François Antoine Marie Constantin de Méan et de Beaurieux |
| Successor | Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps |
| Other posts | Cardinal-Priest of San Bartolomeo all’Isola |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 18 February 1815 by Jean Baptiste Robert van Velde de Melroy et Sart-Bomal |
| Consecration | 8 April 1832 by Jean-Joseph Delplancq |
| Created Cardinal | 13 September 1838 by Cardinal-Priest |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
2 November 1792 Ophem, Belgium |
| Died | 4 December 1867 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Motto | Pax Vobis |
Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx (2 November 1792 – 4 December 1867), was the thirteenth Archbishop of Mechelen, Belgium (1832-1867).
Engelbert (Engelbertus) Sterckx was born 2 November 1792 in Ophem, Brabant. He began his studies in Vilvoorde, after which he studied humanities at the college of Enghien (1805-1807). After secondary school in Leuven, he entered the Major Seminary of Mechelen on 18 September 1811 and in 1813 was named subsecretary of archdiocesan curia of Mechelen in 1813.
Sterckx was ordained, with an age exemption, as priest for the Archdiocese of Malines, on 18 February 1815. He was vice-regent and professor of philosophy and moral theology at Mechelen from 1815 to 1821 when he was appointed pastor at Boechout. In 1824 he was appointed archpriest of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. In 1827, he was named vicar general to Archbishop, Francis Anthony de Méan of Malines, and organized the opposition of the clergy to the religious policies of William I.
In 1830 the southern provinces seceded from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established a constitutional monarchy. The people of the south were nearly all Catholic; half were French-speaking. Many outspoken liberals regarded King William I's rule as despotic. There were high levels of unemployment and industrial unrest among the working classes. The liberal faction began to support the Catholics, partly to accomplish its own goals: freedom of education and freedom of the press.
Belgium became a separate ecclesiastical province with Mechelen as an archbishopric and the suffragan dioceses of Liège, Namur, Tournai (Doornik), Bruges and Ghent.
The new constitution guaranteed religious, educational and press freedom. Although not enthusiastic about all the provisions Sterckx decided they were tolerable. He became Archbishop on 24 February 1832, but his consecration was initially delayed by rumors against him of liberalism. In 1833 he baptised Louis-Philippe, Crown Prince of Belgium, the eldest son of Leopold I of the Belgians.
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