Belgian Catholic missionary who worked in the Philippines for many years. Born at Oijghem, Vanoverbergh received his education in Brussels and was ordained priest in 1909. He immediately left for the Philippines, being stationed on Luzon at Bauco and Pugo until 1911 and then at Tubao and Bauco (1911-1915), Bangan (1916-1921) and Tagudin (1921-1924). He founded the Kabugao Station in 1925 and returned to Tagudin in 1932 before spending a break in Belgium in 1933. He was in Luzon once more by 1934, at Apayao and Sabangan, and in 1946 moved back to Bauco. Vanoverbergh made extensive collections of plants alongside his missionary work and published a series of papers on the Isneg tribe of northern Luzon in the 1930s, as well as many works on the different languages spoken in the Philippines. Oakes Ames described orchids collected by him. The Zingiberaceae genus Vanoverberghia Merr. is named in his honour.

Sources:
J.H. Barnhart, 1965, Biographical Notes Upon Botanists, 3: 425
M.J. van Steenis Kruseman, "Cyclopedia of Collectors", Flora Malesiana, online edn:
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/V/VanoverberghM.htm, accessed 23 December 2010.