The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present TimeCampbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
History
The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present Time
Campbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
Jesuits -- History
Cardinal de Lugo also should be included in this catalogue; indeed he is
one of the most eminent theologians of modern times. His precocity as a
child was almost preternatural, he was reading books when he was three
years old and was tonsured at ten; at fourteen, he defended a public
thesis in philosophy, and about the same time he was appointed to an
ecclesiastical benefice by Philip II. He studied law at the University
of Salamanca, but soon followed his brother into the Society. After
teaching philosophy at Medina del Campo and theology at Valladolid, he
was summoned to Rome to be professor of theology. His lectures were
circulated all over Europe before they were printed, and only when
ordered by superiors did he put them in book form. Between 1633 and 1640
he published four volumes which cover the whole field of dogmatic
theology. Their characteristic is that there is little, if any,
repetition of what other writers had already said. St. Alphonsus Liguori
rated him as only just below St. Thomas Aquinas; and Benedict XIV
styles him "a light of the Church." He was made a cardinal in 1643.
The distinguished Father Lehmkuhl appropriates four long columns in "The
Catholic Encyclopedia" to express his admiration for Gregory de Valencia
who was born in 1541 and died in 1603. He came from Medina in Spain and
was studying philosophy and jurisprudence in Salamanca, when attracted
by the preaching of Father Ramírez, he entered the novitiate and had the
privilege of being trained by Baltasar Álvarez, who was one of the
spiritual directors of St. Teresa. St. Francis Borgia called him to
Rome, where he taught philosophy with such distinction that all North
Germany and Poland petitioned for his appointment to their universities.
He was assigned to Dillingen, and two years afterwards to Ingolstadt,
where he taught for twenty-four years. His "Commentary" in four volumes
on the "Summa theologica" of St. Thomas is one of the first
comprehensive theological works of the Society. He contributed about
eight polemical treatises to the war on Lutheranism, which was then at
white heat; but he was not at one with his friend von Spee in the matter
of witchcraft. Von Spee wanted both courts and trials abolished; Gregory
thought their severity might be tempered. He had much to do with the
change of view in moral theology on the subject of usury; and the two
last volumes of his great work, the "Analysis fidei catholicæ"
culminates in a proof of papal infallibility which expresses almost
literally the definition of the Vatican Council.
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