BOSTIUS, ARNOLD

Carmelite theologian and humanist (known also as Arnold van Vaernewijck); b. Ghent, 1445; d. Ghent, April 4, 1499. Bostius, subprior and possibly prior at Ghent, served as a spiritual director to Carmelite nuns. He was greatly influenced by the Carmelite reformer Bl. John soreth (d. 1471). Keenly interested in the humanistic movement, Bostius promoted classical studies within his order and was in contact with such leading humanists as erasmus, Sebastian trithemius, Robert brant, gaguin, and Bl. baptist of mantua. He was a proponent of the Immaculate Conception and wrote about the Virgin Mary's patronage of the Carmelites (De patronatu et patrocinio Virginis Mariae ). Bostius also composed works on the history of his order (De illustribus viris; Speculum historiale; and Breviloquium tripartitum ).

Bibliography: "Epistolae Arnoldi Bostii Gandavensis," Monumenta historica Carmelitana, ed. b. zimmermann (Lérins 1907) 511–522. p. s. allen, "Letters of A. B.," English Historical Review (London 1886) 34 (1919) 225–236. c. de villiers, Bibliotheca carmelitana (Orléans 1752); ed. g. wessels, 2 v. in 1 (Rome 1927) 1:198–200. a. de saint paul, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Paris 1912–) 4:555–558. g. mesters, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 1:892–893. e. r. carroll, Doctrina Mariologica Arnoldi Bostii, 1445–1499 (Doctoral diss. unpub. Pontifical Gregorian U. 1951); The Marian Theology of Arnold Bostius, O.Carm., 1445–1499 (Rome 1962).

[k. j. egan]