BLOIS, LOUIS DE (1506-1566), Flemish mystical writer, generally known under the name of BLoslus, was born at the Château of Donstienne, near Liege, of a noble family. He was educated at the court of the Netherlands with the future emperor Charles V. of Germany, who remained to the last his staunch friend. At the age of 14 he received the Benedictine habit in the monastery of Liessies in Hainaut, of which he became abbot in IS30. Charles V. pressed upon him the archbishopric of Cambrai but in vain.
Blosius's works, which were written in Latin, have been translated into almost every European language. The best editions of his col lected works are the first edition by J. Frojus (Louvain, 1568), and the Cologne reprints (1572, 1587). His best-known works are: the Institutio Spiritualis (Eng. trans., A Book of Spiritual instruction) (1900) ; Consolatio Pusillanimium (Eng. trans., Comfort for the Faint-Hearted) (1903) ; Sacellum Animae Fidelis (Eng. trans., The Sanctuary of the Faithful Soul) (19o5) ; all these three works were translated and edited by Father Bertrand Wilberforce, O.P., and have been reprinted several times ; and especially Speculum Monachorum (French trans. by Felicite de Lamennais, 1809; Eng. trans., Paris, 5676; re-edited by Lord Coleridge, 1871-72, and inserted in "Pater noster" series, 19o1) .
See Georges de Blois Louis de Blois, un Benedictin an XVIe. siècle (1875) , Eng. trans. by Lady Lovat (1878, etc.) .