![Cornelius Henrici Hoen (c. 1440–1524), also known as Honius, was born in the city of The Hague in the mid-fifteenth century, amidst that period of manifold tumults which, under the wise providence of God, ushered in the dawn of the Reformation. Of Dutch parentage, Hoen was reared in the traditions of the Holy Catholic Church and was distinguished from his youth for a singular devotion to learning. He pursued his studies at the renowned University of Leuven, wherein he attained knowledge in the liberal arts and jurisprudence, becoming a jurist of repute in his native city. Though Hoen held no ecclesiastical office, he was, by the testimony of his contemporaries, steadfast in faith, yet not unmindful of the necessity for reform and the restoration of pure doctrine. It was the holy sacrament of the Eucharist which engaged his particular attention. In his treatise, Epistola de Sacramento Eucharistiae, published posthumously, Hoen maintained—contrary to the decrees of the Lateran and prevailing Scholastic opinion—that the sacred words of Christ, “Hoc est corpus meum,” ought rather to be interpreted symbolically than literally. Thus, he contended that the elements signify, rather than become, the body and blood of Christ, a doctrine which would later find favor among the Sacramentarians and Swiss reformers. Although he remained within the communion of the Roman Church until his death in 1524, Hoen’s teachings were deemed suspect and sowed seeds that would bear fruit in subsequent controversies concerning the nature of the Lord’s Supper. His life and writings bear witness to the earnest search after truth characteristic of the era, and his influence persists in the annals of the church’s disputations on the sacraments. [Painting is not him]](attachment:ed75233a-bebc-4550-86d8-34bed0c61a42:image.png)
[A Dutch Reformed Louvainian Proto-reformer Humanist & Jurist]
Cornelius Henrici Hoen (c. 1440–1524), also known as Honius, was born in the city of The Hague in the mid-fifteenth century, amidst that period of manifold tumults which, under the wise providence of God, ushered in the dawn of the Reformation. Of Dutch parentage, Hoen was reared in the traditions of the Holy Catholic Church and was distinguished from his youth for a singular devotion to learning. He pursued his studies at the renowned University of Leuven, wherein he attained knowledge in the liberal arts and jurisprudence, becoming a jurist of repute in his native city. Though Hoen held no ecclesiastical office, he was, by the testimony of his contemporaries, steadfast in faith, yet not unmindful of the necessity for reform and the restoration of pure doctrine. It was the holy sacrament of the Eucharist which engaged his particular attention. In his treatise, Epistola de Sacramento Eucharistiae, published posthumously, Hoen maintained—contrary to the decrees of the Lateran and prevailing Scholastic opinion—that the sacred words of Christ, “Hoc est corpus meum,” ought rather to be interpreted symbolically than literally. Thus, he contended that the elements signify, rather than become, the body and blood of Christ, a doctrine which would later find favor among the Sacramentarians and Swiss reformers. Although he remained within the communion of the Roman Church until his death in 1524, Hoen’s teachings were deemed suspect and sowed seeds that would bear fruit in subsequent controversies concerning the nature of the Lord’s Supper. His life and writings bear witness to the earnest search after truth characteristic of the era, and his influence persists in the annals of the church’s disputations on the sacraments. [Painting is not him]
HIS WORKS:
Sacramental Theology: