Gabriel Vásquez
Encyclopedia
Gabriel Vasquez was a Spanish Jesuit theologian.

He made his primary and grammar studies at Belmonte, and went to Alcalá for philosophy, where he entered the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 on 9 April 1569. Having completed his novitiate
Novitiate
Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....

 he continued his theological studies there, closing with a public defense of his thesis.

At the Fifth Provincial Congregation at Toledo he also defended a thesis. Between these events he lectured to the Jesuit students on the De Anima, and returned to Alcalá to study Hebrew.

Following this he taught moral theology two years at the college of Ocaña
Ocaña, Spain
Ocaña, a town and municipality of central Spain, in the province of Toledo. It is located on the extreme north of the tableland known as the Mesa de Ocaña, and has a station on the railway from Aranjuez to Cuenca.-History:...

 two more at Madrid, and for some time at Alcalá. From there, although not yet thirty years of age, he was called to Rome to fill the same post at the Roman College. Before his departure he made his profession at Belmonte.

He remained six years in Rome, then returned to Alcalá, where he taught theology until his death. In him, according to Haringer, virtue competed with doctrine, obedience with genius, and piety with learning. The Duke de Lerma, favourite of Philip III of Spain
Philip III of Spain
Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...

, frequently consulted him in the most important matters, and Benedict XIV called him the luminary of theology.

He was noted for his exact knowledge of the opinions and theories of the different Schools and authors, and commendable for clearness of expression and a strict philosophical method. He made a complete study of the writings of St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...

, for whom he professed great devotion, as well as those of the other Fathers of the Church and St. Thomas
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...

.

In matters of opinion he sometimes differed from the general view of the Schools, defending private opinions, among which the following deserve to be mentioned:
  1. The natural law consists in rational nature considered in itself and in the recognition that certain actions are necessarily in accord with it and others are repugnant to it. Nevertheless, he does not deny that the natural law might also have cognizance of what the Divine law enjoins, and that it might, therefore, be the principle of a Divine obligation. In this he is in opposition to Kant, who holds that all the binding force of the moral law should come from man and from man alone.
  2. The Divine ideas are not the essence of God, insofar as that essence or nature is known as imitable or to be imitated, but only as they are the knowledge, the word, the species expressa of possible and future creatures. These ideas thereby concur remotely in the creation of beings; their proximate principle being the Divine active potency by which God actually and effectually creates.
  3. In the section dedicated to the discussion of the existence of God
    Existence of God
    Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...

     he cites the ontological proof of St. Anselm, the legitimateness and demonstrative value of which he appears to accept absolutely. Eternity is, according to him, duratio permanens, uniformis, sine principio et fine, mensura carens, a definition that differs somewhat from that adopted by Boethius and followed in the Schools.
  4. Grace
    Divine grace
    In Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...

     is necessary for performing all good actions and overcoming temptation. By grace he understands all good impulses which efficaciously urge to right action. It may proceed from natural causes, but as these are regulated by Divine Providence
    Divine Providence
    In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...

    , if they are so regulated as to produce efficacious good impulses, it is grace, because man does not himself merit it, and to many it is denied. It is to be considered as a gift from God, since it is granted through the merits of Christ and for a supernatural end. Hence it is called grace.
  5. Predestination
    Predestination
    Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...

    , he maintains, is post praevisa merita, but children who die without its being in any way whatsoever possible for them to receive baptism were not, after original sin was foreseen, included in the salvific will of God.
  6. In Christology
    Christology
    Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...

     he held the following opinions: that the Adoptionists are not Nestorians; that Christ cannot be called the servant of God; that Christ was under a command to die, but that He was free to choose the circumstances of his death; that the regular or formal dignity of the priesthood of Christ will last forever, because Christ is a priest according to His substance, and this remains immutable.
  7. The ratio formalis of the Sacrifice of the Mass lies in the mystic separation of the Body
    Body of Christ
    In Christian theology, the term Body of Christ has two separate connotations: it may refer to Jesus's statement about the Eucharist at the Last Supper that "This is my body" in , or the explicit usage of the term by the Apostle Paul in to refer to the Christian Church.Although in general usage the...

     and Blood
    Blood of Christ
    The Blood of Christ in Christian theology refers to the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby; and the sacramental blood present in the Eucharist, which is considered by Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and...

     of Christ effected by the words of consecration
    Consecration
    Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...

    .
  8. It is probable that in the new birth of baptism
    Baptism
    In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

     the guilt of sin is not pardoned ex opere operatio, but only the punishment. Since the death of Christ, baptism is for children the only means of salvation; for them martyrdom has the virtue of justification instar baptism; but in adults it justifies only on account of the act of charity.
  9. Episcopal consecration does not imprint a new character, nor does it in reality extend or increase the sacerdotal character; a new and distinct power is thereby conferred, which is nothing else than the Divine appointment to a new ministry.
  10. In the Sacrament of Matrimony the bodies of the contracting parties constitute the matter, and their consent, expressed verbally or by signs, the form. In treating the existence of God he notes the number of atheists who lived in his time, and attributes it to the influence of Protestantism. He also mentions the political atheists who consider God and religion only as governmental expedients to hold the people in check.


Vasquez was a rival of Francisco Suárez
Francisco Suárez
Francisco Suárez was a Spanish Jesuit priest, philosopher and theologian, one of the leading figures of the School of Salamanca movement, and generally regarded among the greatest scholastics after Thomas Aquinas....

, whom he sometimes designates as one of the moderns. He established a School, and the disputes between his disciples and those of the Dominican John of St. Thomas
John of St. Thomas
John of St. Thomas, , theologian, philosopher, born at Lisbon, 9 June 1589; died at Fraga, Spain, 17 June 1644....

 concerning there is in God between the Divine knowledge and the Divine idea were, according to Menéndez y Pelayo, curious. Luis de Torres and Diego de Alarcon were the most notable disciples of the School, and, although it was short-lived, modern theologians frequently quote him.

Two principal charges are urged against him: his independent opinion and his discussion of useless questions. It cannot be denied that these censures have some foundation. His independence, as Hurter
Hurter
The von Hurter family belonged to the Swiss nobility; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries three of them were known for their conversions to Roman Catholicism, their ecclesiastical careers in Austria and their theological writings.- Life :...

 remarks, led him at times to defend less safe and even erroneous opinions. His first volume on the first part of St. Thomas was held back two years by the censors of the Society. Among the questions he discussed such as the following are to be found: "An Deus extra coelum, vel in vacuo intra coelum esse possit, aut ante mundi creationem alicubi fuerit". Nicolás Antonio
Nicolás Antonio
Nicolás Antonio was a Spanish bibliographer born in Seville. After taking his degree in Salamanca , he returned to his native city, wrote his treatise De Exilio , and began his monumental register of Spanish writers...

, who thoroughly examined the questions and characteristics of those times when all theologians discussed questions which are to-day considered useless, says that some excuse can be made for this defect if one considers the energy and vigour of his genius, vir fuit acerrimo ingenio.

Works

  • "De cultu adorationis libri tres et disputationes duae contra errores Felicis et Elipandi", Alcalá, 1594; Mainz, 1601, 1604
  • "Commentariorum ac Disputationum in (partes) S. Thomae", Alcalá, 8 vols., 1598-1615. Later abridged editions were published at Alcalá, Ingolstadt, Vienna, and more complete ones at Lyons in 1620 and Antwerp in 1621
  • "Paraphrases et compendiaria explicatio ad nonnullas Pauli Epistolas", Alcalá, 1612; Ingolstadt, 1613; Lyons, 1630. Vives undertook to print all his works, but only got as far as the first volume (Paris, 1905)
  • "Disputationes metaphysicae desumptae ex variis locis suorum operum" (Madrid, 1617; Antwerp, 1618) compiled by Francisco Murcia de la Llana, comprises the philosophical questions dispersed throughout his works, and is a rare and exceptionally valuable book.


Some of his manuscripts are preserved in the National Library of Madrid.

External links

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