Antoine d'Arenberg

Prince Antoine d'Arenberg (1593-1669), also known as Father Charles of Brussels, was a Capuchin biographer and architect who served as definitor and commissary-general of his order.

Life Arenberg was born in Brussels, the son of Charles, Prince of Arenberg. He bore the title 'Count of Seneghem' but renounced the world and on 4 March 1616 was clothed in the Capuchin habit at Leuven. In religion he took the name Charles.

As a friar, Charles gained a reputation for piety, learning and modesty. He became knowledgeable in theological and biblical studies, and in what time he had available beyond his religious duties, he studied the history of the order he had joined. There were some suggestions of making him a bishop, or even a cardinal, but he rejected all such proposals. Reprinted Antwerp, 1640; Milan, 1648. Clypeus Seraphicus (Cologne, 1643), a defence of Boverius's Annales Capucinorum.