Jean Joseph Delplancq

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Jean Joseph Delplancq (1767–1834) was a Belgian bishop of Tournai and an early supporter of Catholic higher education. He was born on 30 January 1767 in Thieu and studied at the College de Roeulx and the Old University of Leuven. He was ordained a priest in 1791, served as parish priest in Ville-en-Hesbaye from 1803, and became dean of Hannut in 1827. After the diocese of Tournai had been vacant since 1819, he was appointed bishop of Tournai in 1829 and was consecrated on 25 October 1829.

Following the Belgian Revolution of 1830, which guaranteed religious freedom, Delplancq helped establish schools run by the De La Salle Brothers in Tournai, Peruwelz and Mons. He also played a key role in founding Catholic higher education: in 1834 he helped establish the Catholic University of Mechelen, which moved to Leuven in 1835 and became the Catholic University of Leuven. He urged that papal approval be sought before founding new institutions.

Delplancq died in Tournai on 27 July 1834 at the age of 67.