Translation of the Article THE FRIARS PREACHERS from the Dictionnaire de Spiritualité:

IV. IN SPAIN

  1. From the Beginnings to the Reforms of the 15th Century.
  2. The Reforms and the Golden Age.
  3. The Missions (16th - 18th centuries).
  4. 18th and 19th centures.

1. From the Beginnings to the Reforms of the 15th Century.

Dominican spirituality was from its beginning, essentially missionary. That clearly explains the inspired phrase of St. Gregory which summarizes the end of the Order: Contemplata aliis tradere. St. Dominic, apostolic, contemplative soul that he was, modeled his disciples in his image, nonnisi cum Deo aut de Deo loquebatur (Constitutions II, 31). It would be difficult to "separate the spirituality of St. Dominic from that of his first brethren... The one is known with the other, sometimes the one by the other DS, vol. 3, col. 1519). "The first pages of the history of Dominican spirituality in Spain were written by the founder and the few Spaniards whom he formed in his school. His own brother Mannes (+ca. 1230), and St. Peter Gonzalez Telmo (+1246), with whom he lived for a while at the studium of Palencia, imitated the founder's sanctity, the former with regard to the interior life, the latter in his preaching. In addition, among the saint's companions we should remember Michael de Fabra and Suero Gomez who collaborated to implant the Dominican spirit in Spain. The second of these was succeeded as Provincial by B1. Gil de Santaren. Humbert de Romans had been Gil's cellmate in Paris and thought very highly of him.

THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES

In the rather limited documentation remaining to us on the subject of Dominican life in Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries, MISSIONARY ACTIVITY stands out in marked relief. It began to cross the frontiers of the peninsula in the middle of the 13th century, incited by St. Raymond of Penafort (+1275), General of the Order from 1238-1240. A chronicler of that period calls him "zelator fidei propagandae inter sarracenos." During the generalate of John the Teutonic (1240-1252), Raymond obtained permission to establish a school of Arabic in Tunis and another of Hebrew at Murcia (Spain), which he carried out with the aid of the kings of Aragon and Castille (cf. Raimundiana I, MOPH, vol. 4, pp. 12. 32). The provincial chapter of Toledo in 1250, named the personnel destined for the study of Arabic. Among those who were designated was Raymond Marti (+1286), "philosophus in arabico, magnus rabinus in hebraeo et in lingua chaldaica multus doctus," according to the testimony of his contemporary, Peter Marsili (Chronicle of Jaime I of Aragon). To him we owe the Pugio fide), the principal work of controversy with the Jews produced in the 13th century. Humbert de Romans, successor to John the Teutonic, also encouraged the apostolate among Jews and Moors.

On the peninsula, this apostolate frequently took the form of public debate. One such took place in Barcelona in 1262 between Paul Cristiano, of Jewish descent, and the famous rabbi, Moses of Gerona, in the presence of the King and of St. Raymond. The Aragonese monarch decreed that, whenever the religious of St. Dominic wished to preach to the Jews of his kingdom, the latter were to go to the appointed place and listen respectfully to the preacher (evidence of the historian, Fra. Diago, who had at hand the royal register of the decree, Historia de la provincia de Aragon de la Orden de Predicadores, Barcelona, 1599, fol. 32). This sort of apostolate continued throughout the 14th century, absorbing most of the manpower of the Spanish Dominicans.

Also, between 1307 and 1380, the episcopal see of Morocco was occupied in turn by eight Dominican religious, indicating the intense activity of their missions in the Saracen world.

VINCENT FERRER.

The end of the 14th century was dominated by the great figure of Saint Vincent FERRER (+1419) whose missionary activity extended to almost the whole of Europe. In the collection of St. Vincent's writings we find, together with a tract of controversy against the Jews (Oeuvres.., ed. H.-D. Fages, vol. 1, Paris, 1909), sermons and spiritual treatises among which the De vita spirituali is outstanding. This work, short but rich in doctrine, is a worthy prelude to the Imitation of Jesus Christ. In the prologue, the saint presents some salutary teachings "ex dictis doctorum extracta." These authors are St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, Ludolph the Carthusian and Venturino of Bergamo. But the treatise is much more than a simple collection: Vincent Justinian Antist (+1599), biographer of the saint (Vida.., Valencia, 1575) relates in his Adnotationes in opuscula sancti Vincentii (ed. Valencia, 1953) that, according to the opinion of St. Louis Bertrand, nowhere else can one find a more lifelike portrait of Vincent Ferrer, "non ex aliorum scriptis, sed ex suismet actionibus (prologue)." However austere the method of life he proposed may seem, he had already practiced it himself. Doubtless, that was one of the reasons which contributed most to the success of the De vita spirituali,a little treatise which was his glory and set him among the ranks of the great spiritual leaders of the future.

See DS, vol. 1, col. 86; vol. 2, col. 2006; vol. 3, col 1093. -Biografia y escritos de san Vicente Ferrer, introduction and ed. by J.M. de Garganta and V. Forcada, collection Biblioteca de autores cristianos, Madrid, 1956, where the aforesaid biography, written by V.G. Antist, is reproduced.

Over forty editions of the De vita have been published. Too brief to be printed alone, it usually appeared with other similar spiritual tracts by St. Augustine and St. Bernard, for example. It can be found in old collections of books on mysticism (Venice, 1502 and 1709). Frequently it is connected with the writings of Humbert de Romans (Lyons, 1585; Valencia, 1657; Valladolid, 1752) and with the Dominican Constitutions (Salamanca, 1542).

By order of Cardinal Cisneros, it was published in Castilian in 1510 in Toledo together with the Book of the Blessed Angela of Foligno and the Rule of St. Claire. Chapters 11 and 12 are not included as they did not please the "spirituals" of the Cisnerian reform. Hence, Francis of Osuna is often in disagreement in his Troisième abécédaire (Toledo, 1527) with the opinions of Vincent Ferrer and looks upon said chapters as an interpolation.

Perhaps in response to that truncated edition, Anthony de Obregon (Leon, 1528) published, along with the meditations of St. Bernard, a complete Castilian edition, expressly condemning the exclusion of chapters 11 and 12, which are "very worthwhile." This was the edition used by St. Teresa (cf. Vida, chap. 20).

See the list of spiritual authors of the 13th to 15th centuries, DS, vol. 4, col. 1121-1122, and the notice on B. DALMATIUS MONERI, 1290-1341, vol. 3, col. 9-11.

2. The Reforms and the Golden Age.

ORIGINS

The presence of St. Vincent in the Dominican Province of Aragon at the beginning of the relaxation of cloister prevented a marked decline of observance there. One of his disciples, Jaime Gil (+1475), undertook in 1439 an attempt at reform which was short-lived (cf. J.M. de Garganta, Los Dominicos de la provincia de Aragon en la historia de la espiritualidad (siglos xiv-xvii), in Teologia espiritual, vol. 1, 1957, pp. 89-112). The real reform took root almost a century later, coming from Castille where, parallel to the effort of J. Gil in Aragon, a movement to restore Dominican life had begun and taken hold in the course of the 15th century.

The first fruits of this Castilian movement were contemporaneous with B1. Alvarez of Cordoba (+ca. 1430) who was summoned from that city where he was exercising his apostolate, although he was a native of Zamora. In Scala Coeli in 1423, he firmly introduced uniformity of observance, and was named by Martin V (1427) vicar general of all like-minded monasteries. But it required the energetic intervention of the Dominican Cardinal, John of Torquemada (+1468) with Pius II and the General of the Order, Martial Auribelli, to bring about the full reestablishment of religious life, in 1459, at the convent of St. Paul in Valladolid, cradle of the Spanish Congregation. The latter, organized according to the model of Lombardy, served as headquarters for the vigorous spiritual, missionary, and intellectual flowering in Castille during the 16th century.

Torquemada deserved be called by Eugene IV, at the Council of Florence, defensor fidei He was champion of the doctrinal tradition of the Order. He combined a rare austerity of life with an unshakable zeal for regular discipline. When Pius II wanted to introduce reform into the Dominican monasteries of Rome, he entrusted the task to Torquemada, as one who could effect this transformation with the best likelihood of success.

He presented his spiritual doctrine in writings, numerous and varied, appropriate to the situation, especially in the Defensiones quorumdam articulorum rubrorum Revelationum sanctae Birgittae factae in concilio Basileensi and the Quaestiones spirituales super evangelia

totius anni (V. Beltran de Heredia, Noticias y documentos pare la biografia del cardenal Juan de Torquemada, AFP, vol. 30, 1960, pp. 53 148). He wrote at the end of his life a little treatise of high spirituality which, unpublished, is almost unknown. Entitled De nuptiis spiritualibus (Vat. lat. 974, fol. 68-74; and Madrid, Academia de la Historia, 12, 11, 1-17, fol. 73-87, it presents a series of texts of St. Augustine, St. Bernard, Hugh of St. Victor, etc. on various phases of the spiritual life.

The consolidation of observance in the Congregation, the best service rendered by the Cardinal, enabled it, in a quarter of a century, to absorb the most fervent convents of Castille. The Province and the Congregation in 1506 (V. Beltran de Heredia, Historia de la reforma de la provincia de Espana, 1450-1550, Rome, 1939).

SPIRITUAL TRENDS

As to the spiritual life, two rival trends relating to observance appeared in the congregation: the one rigorist, inspired by the spirit of Savonarola, aiming to maintain the division between the convents of strict observance and those which had not embraced the reform until the last minute; the other, moderate, which wished above all for unity. The rigorists compromised their cause by identifying themselves with the famous supposed mystic of Piedrahita, Maria de Santo Domingo (+1524) (DS, vol. 4, col. 1137), an exalted visionary whose thought was questionable and disapproved by the Master General, Thomas de Vio Cajetan (+1534). For the time being, the moderates had the advantage. Among them was John Hurtado de Mendoza (+1525), formerly allied with the rigorists, but an avowed adversary of the visionary. Hurtado attempted to implant the reform in the convent of Salamanca, where he was prior; but he was suspended from his charge. Supported later by the General Garcia de Loaysa (+1546), a great promoter of reform in the Order, he managed to establish throughout the Province convents of strict observance on the basis of absolute poverty. One of his disciples, Diego de Pineda, provincial by the will of the same General, spread his ideas throughout Castille.

The personality of Hurtado was inseparable from his reforming mission; strenuus miles Christi, as he was called by his disciple and biographer, John de Robles: "Ardua quaeque et laboriosa ardenter aggrediebatur dicebatque neminem magis oportere vitam laboriosam ducere quam praedicatores verbi Dei, quos pudor esset velle populos suadere quae prius non ipsi fecissent." In the convents which he founded (Talavera, Atocha, Madrid, Ocana) he added to study and preaching the rigors of absolute poverty, like that of the early days of the Order.

He had collaborators in this work of restoring religious life Thomas de Guzman, succeeding Dominic de Montemayor (+1534) and John Mico (+1555?) in the government of the Province of Aragon, implanted the program of reform there; Jerome de Padilla was sent with the same objective to Portugal. Both had received their formation at the convent of Talavera. The missionary zeal of Hurtado spread most noticeably to the celebrated convent of St. Stephen of Salamanca where he was Prior for the second time from 1522-1525. From there, in the 16th century, most of the Dominicans who evangelized America were recruited.

After the death of Hurtado in 1525, his companion, Thomas de Santa Maria, Provincial of Spain from 1543 to 1545, known in history as the "holy Provincial," continued the reform already begun.

In this first half of the 16th century, while the theological school of Salamanca was in its beginnings, a second wave of Savonarolism swept over Castille, putting a clearer stamp upon the movement of spirituality founded in Dominican tradition. Of an entirely opposite spirit, there were spreading throughout Spain the sects of the illuminati, known as "dejados" (the abandoned), although proscribed by an edict of the Inquisition in 1525 (cf. V. Beltran de Heredia, E1 edicto contra los alumbrados del reino de Toledo, in Revista espanola de teologia, vol. 10, 1950, pp. 105-130). Out of the Cisnerian reform issued the trend of interior illumination (cf. DS, vol. 4, col. 1151-1152) which profoundly marked religious thought and especially Franciscan spirituality in imperial Spain. Even then (1523-1527) Erasmian ideas, whose influence upon spiritual literature was great, had also penetrated the Peninsula (cf. DS vol. 4, col. 114601148). None of these currents exerted a direct influence upon the work of Hurtado. Even Erasmianism, in whose defense Francis de Vitoria (+1546) had fought for some time, tinged but lightly the school of Salamanca with its humanist concern. The convergence of three currents, medieval scholasticism, reformist Erasmianism and the Savonarolian spirit, strengthened the religious, missionary and intellectual life so characteristic of the Castilian Dominicans in the 16th century. -- V. Beltran de Heredia, Directrices de la espiritualidad dominicana en Castilla durante las primeras decades del siglo XVI, in Corrientes espirituales en la Espana del siglo XVI (2nd Congress of spirituality at Salamanca, 1956) Barcelona, 1963, pp. 177-202.

GREAT SPIRITUAL FIGURES.

1) Among the Dominicans, Melchior Cano (+1560) (DS, vol. 2, col. 73-76) occupied a special place as a theologian and in the sphere of spiritual life. He constitutes an unique instance in Spanish Dominican history, not only as a prominent personality, but above all because he knew intimately all the phases encountered in the course of forty years by the current inaugurated by Hurtado. Drawn by the latter to religious life, he then experienced the humanist influence of Vitoria. He later went to San Gregorio of Valladolid, where the austere spirituality of Hurtado had, in the person of Bartholomew de Carranza (+1576), begun to lean toward the surrounding illuminism. Unhappy with this deviation, Cano proposed to check it. Not finding in Spain, even in the school of Hurtado, a literary production that could withstand illuminism, he looked for it among the Italian reformers. He translated La victoria de se stesso of Seraphin de Fermo, without being aware of its direct dependence on Battista da Crema (DS, vol. 2, col. 153), and recommended the De simplicitate vitae christianae of Savonarola. Among the motives which impelled him was the close relationship existing between the Dominican reform of Hurtado and that of the frate. But his effort was opposed by Crema (1552). His mistrust of the illuminist mysticism which had taken root in Spain was thereby accentuated, as well as his resolve to promote the solid piety of Hurtado's school.

2) Cano's development acquires more importance if compared with the drama of Carranza. The latter, less influenced by Hurtado's reform, adhered immediately to the Erasmian trend. Subsequently beguiled by the spirituality of John de Valdes (+1541), apparently more profound than the realism of Hurtado and penetrated by the ideas of the Beneficio de Cristo, Carranza labored to spread those ideas and succeeded in influencing Louis of Granada. Cano warned him of the danger, but Carranza persisted in good faith to defend a mysticism which recalled in some ways the early reformers. Later Carranza's Catechismo was condemned and its author arrested: severe consequences, historically explainable, of a deviation from the austere piety inaugurated in Castille by Hurtado. Carranza was nevertheless an exemplary religious.

J.I. Tellechea Idigoras devoted himself to the rehabilitation of Carranza: B. de Carranza, arzobispo. Un prelado evangelico en la silla de Toledo, San Sebastian, 1958; Fray B. Carranza, Documentos historicos, vol. 1, Madrid, 1962; Melchior Cano y B. Carranza..., in Hispania sacra, vol. 15, 1962, pp. 5-93; Ideario asceticopastoral de B. Carranza.., in Corrientes espirituales en la Espana del siglo XVI, Barcelona, 1963, pp. 203-245.

Besides Louis of Granada, Carranza had other admirers won over by the zeal of his religious fervor among those who lived for a time at San Gregorio of Valladolid; but none followed him in his illuminist wanderings, and "Carranzismo" died with its author. Peter de Sotomayor, Peter de Soto (+1563), Philip de Meneses (+1572) and John de la Pena (+1565), the four religious most attached to Carranza, belonged doctrinally to Thomist orthodoxy. La Pena, in particular, studied in the light of Thomism the favorite theses of illuminism (the Beneficio de Christo, Christ the head of the Church, the vital participation in his merits by Christians). He showed how, in that trend, the exclusion of certain elements and the exaggeration of others risked endangering esteem for the sacraments, for the practice of worship, vocal prayer, fasting, etc., and of reducing piety to worship in an entirely arbitrary spirit.

In the same group with Carranza belonged Dominic of Valtanas (1488-1567) of the Province of Andalucia, who was also condemned by the Inquisition; see the articles of A. Huerga (in Teologia espiritual, vol. 2, 1958, pp. 419-466; vol. 3, 1959, pp. 47-96; and in Corrientes espirituales en la Espana del siglo XVI, cited above, pp. 247-281). DS, vol . 4, col. 1138.

3) At this juncture the Dominican, John of the Cross (+ca. 1560), a disciple of Hurtado and, as such, an avid partisan of the piety sanctioned by the master, opposed the systematic campaign which the Erasmists and the pseudo-mystics had embarked upon against ceremonies and external manifestations of religion. He published in 1555 a Dialogo sobre la necesidad y obligacion y provecho de la oracion y divinos loves vocales, y de las obras virtuosas y sanctas ceremonias que usan los cristianos mayormente los religiosos (re-edt. V. Beltran de Heredia, collect B.A.C., Madrid, 1962, which we quote below). Marcel Bataillon has termed this book "Anti-Erasmian" and looks upon it as aimed against the new forms of the Monachatus non est pietas (Erasme et l'Espagne, Paris, 1937, p. 644).

As a work of doctrine and controversy, the book has its importance in the history of Spanish spirituality. The author did not pretend to deprecate spiritual prayer (contemplation), but to come to the defense of "poor little vocal prayer and corporal ceremonies, badly enough scorned and looked down upon in times past by the enemies of the Church." He especially wished to draw attention to the dangers of a falsely interpreted spirituality which was invading spiritual literature and was preached indiscriminately to everybody. He mistrusted those who prematurely urged Christians to practice contemplation. Souls should first purify themselves of their vices (e.g., p. 345). Lofty doctrine should not be preached to souls not yet formed and incapable of assimilating it (p. 337). The spiritual masters "out of sympathy for the ignorance of people, most of whom, thanks to human misery, are sinners, and the rest very weak in virtue..., should moderate their instruction by teaching the virtues which are more within the reach of men and which are, ordinarily, more necessary for their salvation (p. 347)."

Erasmian literature and its affiliated school inspired by illuminism constituted, according to the Dominican master, an imminent danger. "The world is full of Enchiridia, that is to say, little-books which people have in their hands day and night, dealing only with the praises and enrichment of the mind and how to practice it. They are about to forget and get rid of the books of the saints and ancient doctors (p. 348)." Out of prudence, he refrained from citing the names and titles of the books. However, in some cases they are easy to identify, such as Osuna, or the book Via spiritus attributed to a Franciscan, Barrabas de Palma (p. 349). On the criticisms of John of the Cross, cf. V. Beltran de Heredia, Las corrientes de espiritualidad entre los dominicos de Castilla durante la primera mitad del siglo XVI, Salamanca, 1941, ch. 6; DS, vol. 3, col. 395-396.

The attempt of the author to safeguard from false mysticism the powerful spiritual movement which had developed in Spain helped at the same time to affirm the religious tradition inaugurated by his master, Hurtado. John of the Cross was a sort of bridge over which his spirit crossed to St. Teresa's directors: Peter Ibanez, Vincent Barron, Peter Fernandez, Bartholomew de Medina, Dominic Banez, etc.

4) Louis of Granada (+1588), while undergoing the influence of Hurtado, went still farther. A letter addressed to Carranza (1539; translated into French in R. L. Oechslin, Louis de Grenade ou la rencontre avec Dieu, Paris, 1954, pp. 150-157) shows us Granada, at thirty-four years of age, dominated by an ardent desire to give himself to a more intense life of prayer; and on the score of this sort of examination of conscience, he permits himself to invite his friend to interrupt his studies for one or two hours a day so as to apply himself to contemplation. (On the subject of this letter, considered as a point of departure for Granada's spiritual progress, cf. V. Beltran de Heredia, Las corrientes de espiritualidad.., pp. 137-139). His soul afire, he wrote the Libro de la oracion y meditacion and the Guia de pecadores; the first editions had to be withdrawn from circulation by order of the Inquisition; they smacked of "carranzism"! This misfortune drove Granada to a more considered examination of the doctrinal elements which enter into play within the Christian life. His development toward positions more conformed to Dominican spirituality in Castille followed the publication of the Index (1559) of the Inquisitor, Ferdinand de Valdes (DS, vol. 4, col. 1165-1167 and the censures of Cano. The new edition (1566) of the Libro de la oracion was revised; it gives more scope to the practice of the virtues and to active exercises.

To the ten counsels contained in chapter 5 of the second part, "against the deceits of the enemy," Granada added nine others which give evidence of a more thoughtful direction. Thus the fifth of the new series completed and balanced the seventh of the former series: "at the same time as in prayer, man should exercise himself in all the other virtues..; sometimes I would prefer the dryness and distractions of those who obey to the recollection of some pious folk." He then defends the exercises of the active life, which, if they are informed by charity, can be more agreeable to God than fervent prayer. (Obras, ed. J. Cuervo, vol. 2, Madrid, 1906, p. 536).

The same less rigorous attitude toward prayer is expressed in the fourth counsel (Of the discretion necessary for examining good desires): "Although devout prayer may be a source of good desires.., one should not trust entirely all one's desires, by rushing thoughtlessly into all the things one desires... For lack of prudence, many spiritual persons have ended up with ineffectual efforts; which seems to indicate that they were mistaken... That is why there is nothing which one ought at times to mistrust more than good desires and eagerness which can more easily deceive under the guise of a good insofar as they do appear to be such (ibid., p. 534)."

Thus Granada departed from his positions of 1539 and even the more moderate ones of 1554, and came closer to those of Melchior Cano (for a slightly different interpretation of these facts, see Oechslin, Louis de Grenade..., cited above). His more balanced eclecticism opened all doors to him, in Spain as elsewhere, and made of him the most read Dominican spiritual writer from the 16th century on. The editions of his works in the catalogue produced by M.L. Llaneza (Bibilografia de Fray Luis de Granada, 4 vol., Salamanca, 1926-1928) exceeded 4000, and the author calculated that one quarter remained to be catalogued.

Granada did not form a school, properly so-called, within the Order: a phenomenon resulting, in our opinion, from various causes. First of all, when his influence began to be felt in Spain, the spiritual atmosphere was strongly marked by the spirit of Hurtado, whom Granada did not pretend to supplant but simply to complement. Moreover, the great theologians of the Order remained somewhat noncommittal with regard to an author who, like Brother Louis, had had a bout with the Inquisition. Granada's eclecticism which gave ample scope to the affective aspect, fitted in badly with the predominance of the intellect, which the theologians of the school were jealous of maintaining, even in the mystical life. Granada's prestige developed in proportion to the disappearance of those obstacles. In the 17th century, Dominican disciples of Granada were recruited for the most part from among those dedicated to the ministry, including foreign missionaries. On the contrary, in the 18th century, his prestige was great even among scholastic theologians. One of his panegyrists, Balthasar de Quinones (+1798), General of the Order, saw in Cano and Granada the two Dominican literary luminaries: time had passed and the divergencies which separated the two men were attenuated. They are, in fact, representative figures of the theological method and of ascetico-mystical theology in Dominican Spain of the 16th century. Cf. DS, vol. 2, col. 2016-2017; vol. 3. col. 397-399; vol. 4, col. 1138-1139.

5) Among writers who contributed to spreading the trend inaugurated by Hurtado, let us once again mention Dominic de Soto (+1560). His field, scholastic theology, he made available to the Christian people in a Catecismo (Salamanca, 1552), reprinted several times. He also composed a Tratado del amor de Dios (Madrid, no date, 18th century) intended "for the instruction of the people." Therein he exhorts them to contemplation of the passion of Christ but does not touch upon the higher degrees of prayer because "the active life is of more concern to the general mass of people." His insistance on warning against the doctrine of justification by faith without works indicates that this error had appeared among the Castilian people. Although the publication of a purely ascetical book would have been opportune, Soto, realizing the vexations which daily plagued spiritual works, did not dare to produce one (cf, V. Beltran de Heredia, Domingo de Soto, Estudio biografico documentado, Salamanca, 1960, pp. 535-544),

6) At the end of the 16th century and during the first half of the 17th, the Friars Preachers in Spain included a series of personalities dedicated rather to personal sanctification and the evangelization of the Christian people. Although Portuguese, Bartholomew of the Martyrs (+1590), Archbishop of Braga, was formed by the Castilian reform (DS, vol. 1, col. 1267; vol. 2, col. 2017-2018). In him, the characteristics of the school of Hurtado predominated: austerity, love of poverty and of the poor, the spirit of prayer. A great figure of a bishop according to the spirit of the Council of Trent, he labored indefatigably in behalf of the reform of the clergy. Among his writings the following deserve to be mentioned: the Stimulus pastorum (Rome, 1564) and the Compendium vitae spiritualis (Lisbon, 1582; for the influence of pseudo-Dionysius in the Compendium, refer to DS, vol. 3, col. 398-399).

In the Province of Aragon, the religious renewal introduced by the disciples of Hurtado was personified in St. Louis Bertrand (+1581) and the flourishing school of Valencia, in Dominic de Anodon (+1602) and in Jerome Baptist de Lanuza (~1625), a student of Salamanca, Bishop of Albarracin and a remarkable preacher (J. Fuser, Vida del venerable y apostolico varon J B de Lanuza, Saragoza, 1648). The convent of Valencia still preserved in the 18th century the mark left upon it by St. Louis Bertrand and his disciples (L. Getino, La escuela ascetica de San Luis Bertran,in La ciencia tomista, vol. 14, 1916, pp. 346 373; J.M. de Garganta, San Juan de Ribera y San Luis Bertran, in Teologia espiritual, vol 5, 1961, pp. 63-104).

In the same Province of Aragon, at the convent of Gerona, lived Thomas of Vallgornera (+1675), author of the Mystica théologia divi Thomae (Barcelona, 1662; augmented 1665; Turin, 1890-1891). This work sums ed.up methodically the spiritual doctrine contained in the Summa theologiae of St. Thomas. Modern criticism takes the author to task having been too dependent on the Summa theologiae mysticae of the Carmelite, Philip of the Trinity and the Tratado sobre los dones of John of St. Thomas (cf. RAM, vol. 21, 2940, pp. 290-332).

J.M. de Garganta, Aportacion de los dominicos de... Aragon... (siglos XIV-XVII),in Estado de los estudios de teologia espiritual, quoted below, pp. 395-417.

At the same period in Castille, many religious made a name in preaching and in Church government: John de las Cuevas (+1598), visitator of the Carmelite reform by order of Gregory XIII and Bishop of Avila; Alphonse de Cabrera t+l598) (DS, vol. 2, col. 10), a renowned preacher during the reign of Philip II; Diego de Yanguas (+1606), confessor to St. Teresa and a great theologian; Anthony de Caceres, Bishop of Astorga, (+1615) (DS, vol. 2, col. 14), Author of a Paraphrase of the Psalms of remarkable doctrinal and literary value; Thomas de Lemos (+1629) and Diego Alvarez (+1634), Bishop of Trani, both of whom had a part in the congregations De auxiliis; John of Lorenzana (+1620), spiritual director to St. Rose of Lima, some of whose mystical writings are preserved; Peter of Herrera (+1630), Bishop of Tarazona, and Peter de Tapia (+1657), Archbishop of Seville, after having been ranking professors, the former at Salamanca and the latter at Alcala.

In the field of spiritual literature, John Lazcano (+1636) was author of a treatise: De la oracion, meditacion, ayuno y limosna, 2 vols., Pamplona, 1630, dedicated to St. Teresa and penetrated with her spirit and doctrine. By insisting on the exercise of prayer and the practices of fasting and almsgiving, Lazcano seemed to have in mind the deviations of the illuminati who, in his time were widespread in Spain and particularly in Seville (see vol. 1, fol. 3v-4).

See the list of Dominican spiritual authors of this period, DS, vol. 4, col. 1172.

Among the Dominican theologians who distinguished themselves in Spain of the 17th century, John of St. Thomas (+1644) must be given first place, by reason of his mystical doctrine. Founded on that of the Angelic Doctor, it developed some theses, especially those referring to the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the souls of the just: the special presence of the three divine Persons presupposes the general presence of God in all things; but it differs insofar as the former is the presence of the Holy Trinity as the almost experimentally knowable object, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who "witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16)."

That exact interpretation of the doctrine of St. Thomas (Summa theologiae la q. 43 a.3) dominates the two opposing theories of Suarez and Vasquez (A. Gardeil, La structure de l'âme et l'expérience mystique, vol. 2, Paris, 1927, pp. 6-60; M. Cuervo, La inhabitacion de la Trinidad en toda alma en gracia segun Juan de Santo Tomas, in La ciencia tomista, vol. 69, 1945, pp. 114-220, and published separately, Salamanca, 1946; R. Garrigou-Lagrange, De Deo Trino, Turin, 1944, pp. 212-222).

On the importance of his treatise on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, see DS, vol. 3, col. 1632; vol. 4, col. 1305; I. Menendez-Reigada, Los dones del Espiritu Santo y la perfeccion cristiana segun Juan de Santo Tomas, Madrid, 1948.

3. The Missions (16th - 18th centuries).

Spanish Dominicans counted among their greatest glories the gigantic effort of their missionaries for the expansion of the faith in America. The fruits of this apostolate, which began in 1510, were immense. From the outset, the Order made an effort to improve the political and social condition of the Indians (laws of Burgos, 1512-1513; laws of the Indies, 1543). The name of Bartholomew de las Casas (+1566) symbolizes the efforts dedicated to the defense of the moral and material interests of a people, and their repercussions in the Spanish peninsula. The data concerning the Dominicans and their spiritual achievement can be consulted in the chapter dedicated to South America (DS, vol. 4, col. 1192-1203, passim.)

At the end of the 16th century, the Province of the Most Holy Rosary was established in the Philippines with a personnel formed in the Province of Castille. This Province opened up new fields of activity in China and Japan. Several of its sons suffered martyrdom and are today raised to the altars: Francis of Capillas (+1648), first martyr of China, Alphonse Navarrete (+1617), Francis Morales, Alphonse de Mena, Hyacinth Orfanell and Thomas de Zumarraga, martyred in 1622 in Japan. In 1747-1748, the Bishops of China, Peter Sanz and Francis Serrano, with their companions J. Alcover, J. Royo and F. Diaz, gave their blood in witness to the faith; likewise, in Tonkin, B1. Francis Gil de Federich and Alphonse Leziniana (+1745) and Hyacinth Castaneda (+1773), beatified by St. Pius X together with the martyrs Jerome Hermosilla and Valentine Berriochoa (+1861), Bishops of Tonkin in the last century.