, in 1575; d. at Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...

, 5 August 1647) was a Spanish Jesuit theologian.

Life

He studied at the University of Alcalá de Henares, where in the examination for the doctorate he won the highest place from numerous competitors. He was at once appointed professor in the university, and was winning fame as a lecturer, when at the age of 32, he resigned his chair and entered the Society of Jesus (1607).

His talents lying mostly in the direction of theology, he lectured on this subject successively at Murcia

Murcia

-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...

, Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, and Alcalá. He was an orator and preacher with abundant success before the Spanish court.

He died in 1647 as dean of the faculty at Alcalá, where he had professed for thirty years.

Works

His principal works are:

• "De Eucharistiâ, sacrificio missæ et ordine" (Alcalá, 1620);
• "De matrimonio et censuris" (Alcalá, 1627);
• "De Incarnatione Verbe" (Alcalá, 1628);
• "De Sacramentis in genere et in specie, i. e, Baptismo, Confirmatione, Poenitentia, et Extrema Unctione" (Alcalá, 1628);
• "De beatitudine, de actibus humanis, bonitate et malitia, habitatibus, virtutibus et peccatis" (Madrid, 1632);
• "Disputationes de sacrimentis et censuris" (Antwerp, 1633);
• "De Deo" (Madrid, 1642).

He was among the earliest to deviate from the method of Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...

, which till then had been followed by the majority of theologians, and he devised a system of his own. He is noted for the brevity, conciseness, and clearness of his exposition.