Pamelius (JACQUES DE JOIGNY DE PAMELE), Belgian theologian, b. at Bruges, Flanders, May 13, 1536; d. at Mons in Hainaut, September 19, 1587. He was educated at the Cistercian Abbey of Boneffe in the Province of Namur; studied philosophy at Louvain, and on March 27, 1553, he was promoted magister artium. For the next nine years he studied theology under the direction of Ruard Tapper and Josse Ravestein and after receiving the baccalaureate he followed the course of the Sorbonne. On June 19, 1561, he was made a canon of St-Donatien at Bruges, and was ordained priest probably February 21, 1562. He visited all the libraries of the Low Countries to procure manuscripts and unedited works, and devoted himself to the publication of rare texts, beginning with the “Micrologus de ecclesiasticis observationibus” Antwerp, 1565), a valuable liturgical commentary on the Roman “Ordo” which dates probably from the beginning of the twelfth century. From 1568 to 1571, Pamelius was dean of the chrétienté of Bruges. He was appointed (1570) a member of the commission for the examination of books by Remi Drieux, Bishop of Bruges, and aided in the publication of the “Index expurgatorius” of 1571. In 1574 he replaced George de Vrieze as scholar of the chapter of St-Donatien and shared in the installation of the college of the Jesuits at Bruges in 1575. The protection which Pamelius extended to the victims of Calvinistic violence at Bruges drew upon him the hatred of the heretics and he was obliged to withdraw to Douai. In 1581 the chapter of St-Omer promoted him to the dignity of the Archdiaconate of Flanders. After the death of Bishop Jean Six (October 11, 1586), Philip II appointed Pamelius his successor in the See of St-Omer, but Pamelius died before receiving his bulls of confirmation. Besides the “Micrologus“, he wrote “Liturgica latinorum” (Cologne, 1571); “De religionibus diversis non admittendis … relatio” (Antwerp, 1589); a catalogue of ancient commentaries on the Bible (Antwerp, 1566); and he edited the works of St. Cyprian (Antwerp, 1566), Tertullian (Paris, 1584), and Rhabanus Maurus (Cologne, 1527).
L. VAN DER ESSEN