Gabriel Vásquez

Gabriel Vasquez (born in Belmonte, Cuenca, 1549 or 1551; died in Alcalá de Henares, 23 September 1604) 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 on 9 April 1569. Having completed his novitiate 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 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 the 19th-century German Redemptorist writer Michael Haringer, virtue competed with doctrine, obedience with genius, and piety with learning. The Duke of Lerma, favourite of Philip III of Spain, 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, for whom he professed great devotion, as well as those of the other Fathers of the Church and St. Thomas.

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:

Vasquez was a rival of Francisco Suárez, 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 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.

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