Floris Hubert Lodewijk (Florentinus) Prims ( Antwerp , 3 March 1882 – Antwerp, 26 October 1954 ) was a Belgian writer , priest , canon of the Chapter of Our Lady and city archivist in Antwerp . [ 2 ]
Prims was born at the address Kunstlei 10 (renamed Frankrijklei in 1919 ) as the son of dock foreman Karel Prims and Caroline Dieltiens, both born in Grobbendonk. He attended secondary school at the Sint-Jozefscollege in Herentals.
It was while studying at the seminary in Mechelen that he first met young Joseph Cardijn. Like Cardijn, he was also impressed and influenced by the Sillon.
In 1904, he became a contributor to the magazine Dietsche Warande en Belfort. From 1912, he worked with Father Ceslas Rutten on the development of the Christian Workers’ Movement in Ghent.
Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, Prims left for London. There he became chaplain to the Belgian refugees. After his return to Belgium, he was transferred in October 1920 to the secretariat of the Federation of Study Circles in Antwerp. In 1925, under Mayor Frans Van Cauwelaert, he was appointed city archivist of the city of Antwerp.
His best-known and most extensive works are: Geschiedenis van Antwerpen in 29 volumes and Antwerpiensia in 24 volumes. He also wrote Geschiedenis van Berchem , De litteekens van Antwerpen , and other additions to the Antwerp theme. In 1935, he published Karel Theodoor Le Bon, een halve eeuw Kempische geschiedenis , a book about the mayor of Geel , Karel Theodoor Le Bon. In 1936, he wrote Geschiedenis van Borgerhout , commissioned by the municipal government, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Borgerhout as an independent municipality.
He died in 1954 at the age of 72 and is buried at Schoonselhof Cemetery .
References
Floris Prims (Wikipedia)