{{Short description|Catholic archbishop (1591–1666)}} {{Expand French|topic=bio|date=August 2025}} {{Expand Dutch|topic=bio|date=August 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox Christian leader | type = Archbishop | name = Andreas Creusen | title = Archbishop of Mechelen | image = Faydherbe Cruesen.jpg | caption = Tomb of Archbishop Andreas Creusen at St. Rumbold's Cathedral, sculpted by Lucas Faydherbe (1660) | church = Catholic Church | archdiocese = Archdiocese of Mechelen | term = 9 April 1657 – 8 November 1666 | predecessor = Jacobus Boonen | successor = Jean de Wachtendonck | previous_post = Bishop of Roermond <small>(1651-1657)</small> | consecration = 23 July 1651 | consecrated_by = Anthonius Triest | birth_date = {{birth year|1591}} | birth_place = Maastricht, Prince-Bishopric of Liège, Holy Roman Empire | death_date = {{death date and age|1666|11|8|1591|df=y}} | death_place = Brussels, Duchy of Brabant, Spanish Netherlands }}
'''Andreas Creusen''' (1591 – November 8, 1666) was a Dutch Catholic clergyman and theologian. He was the Bishop of Roermond (1651–1657) and Archbishop of Mechelen (1657–1666). Creusen was also a concillor to the Holy Roman Emperor.
==Early life== Andreas Creusen was born in 1591 in Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Portrait of Andreas Creusen|url=https://theonlineportraitgallery.com/portrait/andreas-creusen/|website=The Online Portrait Gallery|access-date=2025-11-29|language=en-GB}}</ref> He studied at the Latin school and the Jesuit college in Maastricht, before completing further studies in Rome, Italy. Creusen obtained a doctoral degree in theology at the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria.
== Career == Creusen became a clergyman and theologian with the Catholic Church. He was appointed a councillor to the Holy Roman Emperor and was also chaplain major to the Imperial Roman armies in Germany and Hungary.<ref name=":1" />
After Creusen returned to the Low Countries, he was made a canon of Cambrai Cathedral in 1630.<ref name=":1" /> In 1640, he was appointed Archdeacon of Brabant, a state of the Holy Roman Empire.<ref name=":1" /> Creusen was appointed to be the Bishop of Roermond on 22 May 1651, and was consecrated on 23 July 1651.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Archbishop André Creusen|url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcreusen.html|website=Catholic-Hierarchy|access-date=2025-11-29}}</ref>
Creusen was nominated as the Archbishop of Mechelen 6 September 1656, and his nomination confirmed on 9 April 1657.<ref name=":0" /> At a convocation of bishops held in the city of Brussels in January 1665, Creusen raised the issue of the abuse of the confessional and the power of absolution with regard to the confessor and his paramour.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Historical_Sketch_of_Sacerdotal_Celib/FHNCAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Andreas+Creusen%22&pg=PA536&printsec=frontcover|publisher=J.B. Lippincott|date=1867|language=en|first=Henry Charles|last=Lea|via=Googole Books|page=536}}</ref> However, the issue was not resolved at the meeting.<ref name=":2" />
== Death == Creusen died in Brussels on 8 November 1666.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He was buried in the choir of St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Lucas Faydherbe. Tomb of Archbishop Andreas Creusen Detail: Andreas Creusen|url=https://www.europeana.eu/mt/item/2024903/photography_ProvidedCHO_KU_Leuven_9989494370101488|website=www.europeana.eu|access-date=2025-11-29|language=mt-MT}}</ref> His funeral monument was designed and executed by the sculptor Lucas Faydherbe.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Attributed to Rombout ‘Pauli’ Pauwels|url=https://www.floris-art.com/attributed-to-rombout-pauli-pauwels/|access-date=2025-11-29|language=nl-NL|website=Floris van Wanroij Fine Art}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title=Bishop of Roermond | before=Jacobus a Castro | after=Eugène, Count d'Allamont | years=1651–1657 |}} {{succession box | title=5th Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels | before=Jacobus Boonen | after=Joannes Wachtendonck | years=1657–1666 |}} {{S-end}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Creusen, Andreas}} Category:1591 births Category:1666 deaths Category:17th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Holy Roman Empire Category:17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Holy Roman Empire Category:People from Maastricht Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Mechelen-Brussels Category:Bishops of Roermond Category:University of Vienna alumni