Loos, Cornelius
LOOS, CORNELIUS
Theologian; b. Gouda, c. 1546; d. Brussels, Feb. 3,1595. Loos (Callidius) studied at Louvain, received Holy Orders, and became professor of theology at Mainz, where he had an active literary career, upholding the Catholic cause and denouncing the rebellion in the Low Countries. He also wrote Illustrium Germaniae scriptorum catalogus (Mainz 1581), a collection of literary biographies. After becoming a professor at Trier, he came under attack for denouncing the burning of witches, and upon the instigation of the nuncio, Ottavio M. Frangipani, he was imprisoned and on March 15, 1592 compelled to recant. He left Trier for Brussels, where he served briefly as a pastor, but again he spoke out against the witchcraft delusion and was twice imprisoned. He died before his third trial. His work on this topic, De vera et falsa magia, was printed in Cologne, but the authorities prohibited its publication. His political writings were De tumultuosa Belgarum rebellione sedanda … (1579) and Apologia in orationem Philippi de Marnix pro Archiduce Austriae Matthia (1579).
Bibliography: É. amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, 15 v. (Paris 1903–50) 9.2:930–933. f. zoepfl, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1139–1140. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, (Leipzig 1875–1910; Berlin 1953–) 19:168–169.
[c. g. nauert, jr.]