C. Callewaert:
a biography

C. Callewaert, J.C.D.

 

A well-regarded liturgist and historian in his time, the erudite Flemish author, Camille (Latinized in his works as Camillus) Aloysius Callewaert, was born in 1866 and passed away in 1943 at Bruges, Belgium. He was a frequently-cited liturgical authority during the 20th century and over the years he held many positions within the Belgium diocese of Bruges.

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At the Grand Seminary, he served many years as a director, professor of ecclesiastical history, presiding professor of liturgy, and even as its president. Earlier at the University of Louvain (Leuven), he helped to establish studies for ecclesiastical history, another field in which he excelled. Years later he would serve there as the master of liturgy conferences.

 

Author of many articles, Fr. Callewaert was a frequent contributor to the Vatican-published journal, Ephemerides Liturgicae (Liturgical Matters). Even before earning his doctorate in Canon Law, in 1905 he was appointed an honorary canon of the Bruges cathedral chapter. In 1937 he was made the chapter's archpriest and simultaneously created a domestic prelate by the Holy See. He was eventually raised to the highest rank of monsignor, protonotary apostolic.

 

Msgr. Callewaert's principle works were the three-volume Liturgicae Institutiones [Foundations of the Liturgy] studies and the related Caeremoniale rubrical manual. Combined, these works are primarily a study of the causes, principles, historical development and practices of the various aspects of the Roman Liturgy.

 

More importantly in this day and age though, as an erudite and concise repository of romanitas, these studies also serve as an important tool for restoring Western thought of which its most noble elements are enshrined and practiced through the sacred liturgy.

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