Joannes Miraeus

Joannes Miraeus
Bishop of Antwerp
Portrait by Otto van Veen, 1611
Church	Catholic
Diocese	Antwerp
See	Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)
Appointed	26 July 1603
Term ended	1611
Predecessor	Guillaume de Berghes
Successor	Johannes Malderus
Orders
Consecration	30 May 1604
Personal details
Birth name	Jean Le Mire
Born	(1560-01-06)6 January 1560 Brussels, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands
Died	12 January 1611(1611-01-12) (aged 51) Brussels, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands
Previous post	canon of the church of St Gudula
Education	Philosophy, Theology
Alma mater	Douai University

Joannes Miraeus, Latinized from Jean Le Mire (1560–1611) was the fourth bishop of Antwerp.

Life

Le Mire was born in Brussels on 6 January 1560. He was educated in the city, and began studies at Louvain University, but due to the unsettled condition of the city during the Dutch Revolt moved to Douai University instead. At Douai he completed his Liberal Arts degree, taught Greek, and in 1588 graduated Licentiate of Sacred Theology. In 1591 he was appointed to Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels, and not long afterwards became a canon of the collegiate church of St Gudula.

On 26 July 1603 he was appointed to the see of Antwerp, and on 30 May 1604 he was consecrated bishop by Matthias Van Hove. As bishop he founded a diocesan seminary in Antwerp, and in 1610 called a synod to restore ecclesiastical order in the diocese. He also made efforts to support the Catholic population in the parts of his diocese under the hostile control of the Dutch Republic, and promoted the cult of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel. He died of an apoplexy in Brussels in the night of 11-12 January 1611, having travelled to the city for the wedding of the Count of Hoogstraten to the daughter of the Count of Berlaimont.^[1]

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