CALLEWAERT, CAMILLE

Historian of liturgy; b. Zwevegem, Belgium, Jan. 1, 1866; d. Bruges, Aug. 6, 1943. Callewaert studied at the episcopal college of Courtrai and took his philosophy at the seminary at Roulers. He never finished the usual course of theology at the major seminary of Bruges because his bishop sent him to study for a degree in Canon Law at Louvain. Here he also enrolled in the faculty of philosophy, studied historical criticism under A. Cauchie (1860–1922), and followed B. Jungmann's (1833–95) course in Church history. In the meantime, he was ordained on June 15, 1889.

In 1893 Callewaert was recalled to Bruges and named assistant at the cathedral. The following year he was appointed professor of Church history at the major seminary; in 1903 he was given the chair of liturgy. He was rector from 1907–34. Meanwhile, he was also professor of liturgy at the University of Louvain from 1910 to 1921. In 1929, Pius XI made him a domestic prelate, and upon his retirement he was named archpriest of Bruges. His last years were devoted entirely to study.

A historian of the first order, Callewaert made his rubrics lectures a genuine study of liturgy; they were eventually published as Liturgicae Institutiones, 3 v. (Bruges 1919–37). But he was not interested only in liturgical science. Conscious of the liturgy's role in the people's spiritual life, he started a liturgical study group at Bruges in 1907, an institution that was soon imitated all over Belgium. At the request of L. beauduin, Callewaert organized the Dutch liturgical week of which he retained the presidency for years.

Bibliography: The long list of his works was published in Sacris erudiri 1 (1948) 353–379. The greater part of his articles were reprinted in the volume Sacris Erudiri (Steenbrugge 1940). c. van hulst, Ephemerides liturgicae 58 (1944) 319–321.

[n. huyghebaert]