Flemish humanist and priest. Ghent, 8 March 1525 - Brussels, 26 April 1595. A member of a prominent Ghent family, he went in 1540 to the Louvain University, where for 5 years he studied humanities and law, to continue his studies abroad in Paris, Padua and Bologna (becoming there in 1552 doctor in law). He was probably ordained a priest in Rome. The prince-bishop of Liège having asked him to sit in his council, he came to the city in 1557. He remained there for nearly thirty years, becoming one of the most important personalities of the bishopric: canon of St. Lambert, archdean of Brabant, vicar-general of the bishops of Liège. An integer and conscientious divine, he was at the same time an humanist, in relationship with all the important and less important scholars of the Netherlands. He became one of the 'patrons' and close friends of Plantin. At the end of his career he was made bishop of Antwerp (nominated May 1586; confirmed by the pope on 27 October 1586; in possession of the see on 15 December 1586; entry on 7 January 1587). Cf. Biographie Nationale [de Belgique], 25, 1930-32, Columns 462-475; BB, V, pages 372-381; M. Delcourt and J. Hoyoux, Laevinus Torrentius. Correspondance, 3 vols., Paris, 1950-1954 (Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l'Université de Liège, nos. 119, 127, 131); H. de Vocht, History of the Foundation and the Rise of the Collegium Trilingue Lovaniense, 1517-1550, IV, 1955, pages 165-176, 180-184. Other bibliographical references in A. Gerlo - H.D.L. Vervliet, Bibliographie de l'humanisme des anciens Pays-Bas, 1972, page 248.