Dumoulin, Jean (Joannes Molinaeus)
DUMOULIN, JEAN (JOANNES MOLINAEUS)
Canonist and theologian; b. Ghent, 1525; d. Sept. 29, 1575. He studied and taught at Louvain where he was appointed to the chair of Canon Law by King Philip II on Aug. 9, 1557. A year later he became rector of that University of Louvain. He opposed the government's proposed subjection of certain abbeys to new bishoprics and went to Rome in 1573 to obtain the suppression of these new bishoprics. After returning unsuccessful, he was summoned before the council of bishops assembled in Mechelen to explain his actions. Because of this, and also for his writings, his orthodoxy was called into question. It is possible that these events caused him to lose his mind so that he was forced into seclusion where he let himself starve to death. Most noteworthy is his publication of the Decretum of ivo of chartres (Louvain 1562), which he considered to be a much better arrangement of the canons than that of Gratian.
Bibliography: g. pepointe, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, ed. r. naz (Paris 1935–65) 5:67–70. h. hurter, Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae (3d ed. Innsbruck 1903–13) 3:130–131.
[h. a. larroque]