Church Catholic Church | Role Author Name Libert Froidmont | |
See A picture of Libertus Fromundus can be found at [1]. Buried Sint Pieters Church, Leuven, Belgium Died October 28, 1653, Leuven, Belgium | ||
Libert Froidmont (Latin: Libertus Fromondus, 3 September 1587 in Haccourt-Liège – 28 October 1653 in Louvain) a son of Gerard Libert de Froidmont and Marguerite Radoux, was a Liégeois theologian and scientist. He was a close companion to Cornelius Jansen and corresponded with René Descartes.
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Life
Froidmont was educated by the Jesuits in his native Haccourt, near Liège, and studied philosophy in Louvain at the Falcon college. He became friends with Jansenius but did not pursue his studies and instead went to teach first at Antwerp and later back at Louvain. His scientific interests led him to publish on physics and mathematics.
Acknowledging him as an authority on meteors, Descartes sent him his Discourse on the Method, which Froidmont received rather critically. The scientific revolution may have been underway but Froidmont, who was well informed on many scientific matters, kept a traditionalist Aristotelian view. Nevertheless, he sought to co-opt rather than reject new approaches.
While teaching philosophy he also started studying theology and obtained a doctorate in 1628. Meanwhile he had become close to Jansenius who entrusted him with the posthumous publication of the Augustinus. Froidmont succeeded him in the chair of Scripture at Louvain.