 As a student for the priesthood he distinguished himself in moral theology and canon law.After his ordination as a secular priest of the Diocese of Tournai in Belgium in 1838, he continued his study of canon law at the Catholic University of Leuven.In 1843 he was appointed a vicar of Tournai Cathedral, but the following year he went to Rome, and there spent two years in the Belgian College, studying canon law and working for the congregations.