Guillaume Marie van Zuylen
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Gulielmus Maria van Zuylen (Argenteau, Belgium, January 4, 1910 – Liège, April 2, 2004) was the 89th bishop of the diocese of Liège from 1961 to 1986.
Van Zuylen was the grandson of Senator Guillaume van Zuylen (1838-1924), and the fourth of the eight children of Baron Joseph van Zuylen (1871-1962) and Angèle van Caloen de Basseghem (1878-1973). His father also became a senator, as well as a provincial councilor and mayor of Richelle and Argenteau. His mother was the daughter of Camille van Caloen de Basseghem, mayor of Varsenare and Marie-Louise de Bie de Westvoorde, daughter of the mayor of Sint-Kruis, Jules de Bie de Westvoorde.
He studied in Visé at the Collège Saint-Hadelin and in Liège at the Collège Saint-Louis. Like his older brother Antoine (1905-1983), he went to the minor seminary in Sint-Truiden and to the major seminary in Liège, where he was ordained a priest on September 11, 1932. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, graduating as a Doctor of Philosophy and Licentiate in Theology and Church History.
He became professor in 1936 and president in 1945 of the major seminary in Liège. He became a member of the Commission for the Code of Canon Law.
In 1940 he was chaplain of a regiment of armoured troops and was taken prisoner of war and held for seven months. From 1943 to early 1945, he was concerned with the work of supporting the families of prisoners of war. During the liberation of Liège, he took part, as chaplain, in the activities of the Secret Army.
In 1949 he became Vicar General and in 1951 Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Liège. Ten years later he succeeded Bishop Kerckhofs. At that time, the diocese still extended over the provinces of Liège and Limburg. In 1967 Limburg became the separate diocese of Hasselt.
