Emiel Demonie

Emiel Demonie, son of Desiderius Demonie, merchant, and Justina Verhaeghe, studied at the minor seminary in Roeselare and started teaching there on October 1st ,1869. He was a member of Gezelle’s confraternity. Emiel was a cousin of Polydoor Demonie. He was ordained priest in Bruges on November 7th, 1869. Between 1874 and 1875 he was the fifth form teacher of Albrecht Rodenbach during the ‘Groote Stooringe’ (student revolt). Demonie’s students refused to sing a French song at a party of the superior. As a consequence Demonie was dismissed. Rodenbach wrote the poem "De Meeste"r (The Master) for him. In Bruges, Demonie became a curate at the St Giles’ Church (22.08.1879) and a religion teacher at the governmental teacher training college for girls (29.12.1884). He submitted articles to Gezelle's magazine Loquela and co-founded the Biekorf (Beehive) magazine. He succeeded Amaat Vyncke for a while as chief editor of De Vlaamsche Vlagge (The Flemish Flag) and published articles using the pseudonyms Skald, Logicus and Wilfried. He also contributed to the Almanac for the studying youth of Flanders (1875-1876). Gezelle dedicated the poem "Ach, hoe dikmaals was ‘t mijn lot niet’" (Ah, How Often Was It Not My Fate) to Demonie. At his death in 1890 Gezelle wrote the poem "Wij bouwden op uw leven een getemmer" (We Built Upon Your Life a Carpentry).