Early life Franciscus Lucas was born in
Bruges late in 1548 or early in 1549, the son of Josse Lucas and Ghislaine Vande Walle. He studied at Castle College, Leuven, for his B.A., graduating on 6 March 1568, placing fifth of the 155 students in his year. He went on to earn a
Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 1575 or 1576. Alongside his academic studies, he applied himself to acquiring a knowledge of Middle Eastern languages under the guidance of the Jesuit scholar
Johannes Harlemius. He also became a friend of
William Damasus Lindanus and
Robert Bellarmine, and of the family of
Christopher Plantin.
Editions of the Leuven Vulgate In 1570, Christopher Plantin obtained permission to print a new edition of the
Leuven Vulgate, first edited by
Hentenius, revised under the authority of the
Leuven Faculty of Theology. A committee consisting of
Joannes Molanus,
Augustinus Hunnaeus and
Cornelis Reineri appointed Franciscus Lucas to gather any variant readings that Hentenius had missed and to add explanatory marginal notes. Lucas spent three years on this task. Plantin published this second edition of the Leuven Vulgate in Antwerp in 1574 under the title
Biblia sacra. Quid in hac editione a theologie Lovaniensibus praestitum sit, paulo post indicatur.
Ecclesiastical career Lucas had been appointed to a
canonry of the
collegiate church of St Salvator, Bruges, on 6 May 1579, but in July 1581,
Jean Six, newly consecrated as
bishop of Saint-Omer, took him into service as his private chaplain and secretary. Lucas held this position until Six's death on 11 October 1586, but from 2 October 1581 he also held an appointment from the
cathedral chapter in Saint-Omer to provide lectures on Sacred Scripture, and from 2 April 1584 he held a
prebend in the chapter reserved to theology graduates. In September 1586, while travelling to a
provincial synod in
Mons, Bishop Six fell ill at
Lille. Lucas took down his last requests, acted as one of his executors, and personally transported his heart back to Saint-Omer for burial there. His eulogy of the bishop was printed at the
Plantin Press in 1587 as
In obitum D. Joannis Six, episcopi audomaropoliiani, oratio funebris Francisci Lucae, S.T.L. canonici audomaropolitani. On 5 March 1593, Lucas was appointed
canon penitentiary, and on 31 July 1602 he was elected
dean of the chapter (taking possession of the office on 6 August). His name was put forward to succeed
Petrus Simons as
bishop of Ypres, but
Charles Maes was appointed to the see.
Later works In 1603 Plantin's successor,
Jan Moretus, published Lucas's overview of the corrections of the
Sixto-Clementine Vulgate as
Romanae correctionis in latinis Bibliis editionis vulgata, jussu Sixti V pont. max. recognitis, loca insigniora, with a dedication to
Jacques Blaseus, bishop of Saint-Omer and laudatory approbations by
Professor Estius,
Cardinal Baronius and
Cardinal Bellarmine. In 1606 a two-volume exegetical commentary on the Gospels on which he had long been engaged was finally published, again by Moretus, as
In sacrosancta quatuor Jesu Christi Evangelia commentarii, with a dedication to the Sovereign Archdukes
Albert and
Isabella. The
Concordantiae Bibliorum Sacrorum Vulgatae Editionis is an important biblical concordance compiled by Franciscus Lucas Brugensis. The work was first published in 1617 by the
Officina Plantiniana in Antwerp. Its purpose was to improve and correct earlier concordances based on the
Latin Vulgate.
Death After the death of Bishop Blaseus on 22 March 1618, Lucas was appointed
capitular vicar during the ensuing vacancy, but he himself died on 19 February 1619. Among other bequests, he left instructions to his executors to present forty parishes each with one copy of the folio Plantin edition of the
Roman Missal with
copper plate engravings. He was buried next to his sister, Denise, in the
nave of
Saint-Omer Cathedral, opposite the chapel of
St Denis where he had frequently said Mass. ==References==