CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: SUAREZ, FRANCISCO
<Doctor Eximius>, a pious and eminent theologian, as Paul V called him, born at
Granada, 5 January, 1548; died at Lisbon, 25 September, 1617. He entered the Society of
Jesus at Salamanca, 16 June, 1564; in that city he studied philosophy and theology from
1565 to 1570, and was ordained in 1572. He taught philosophy at Avila and at Segovia
(1571), and later, theology at Avila and Segovia (1575), Valladolid (1576), Rome (1580-
85); Alcala (1585-92), Salamanca (1592-97), and Coimbra (1597-1616). All his
biographers say that he was an excellent religious, practicing mortification, laborious,
modest, and given to prayer. He enjoyed such fame for wisdom that Gregory XIII
attended his first lecture in Rome; Paul V invited him to refute the errors of King James
of England, and wished to retain him near his person, to profit by his knowledge;
Philip II sent him to the University of Coimbra to give prestige to that institution, and
when Suarez visited the University of Barcelona, the doctors of the university went out
to meet him, with the insignia of their faculties. His writings are characterized by
depth, penetration and clearness of expression, and they bear witness to their author's
exceptional knowledge of the Fathers, and of heretical as well as of ecclesiastical
writers. Bossuet said that the writings of Suarez contained the whole of Scholastic
philosophy; Werner (Franz Suarez, p. 90) affirms that if Suarez be not the first
theologian of his age, he is, beyond all doubt, among the first; Grotius (Ep. 154, J.
Cordesio) recognizes in him one of the greatest of theologians and a profound
philosopher, and Mackintosh considers him one of the founders of international law.
In Scholasticism, he founded a school of his own, "Suarism", the chief characteristic
principles of which are: the principle of individuation by the proper concrete entity of
beings; the pure potentiality of matter; the singular as the object of direct intellectual
cognition; a nonconceptual distinction between the essence and the existence of created
beings; the possibility of spiritual substance only numerically distinct from one
another; ambition for the hypostatic union as the sin of the fallen angels; the
Incarnation of the Word, even if Adam had not sinned; the solemnity of the vow only
in ecclesiastical law; the system of Congruism that modifies Molinism by the
introduction of subjective circumstances, as well as of place and of time, propitious to
the action of efficacious grace, and with predestination <ante praevisa merita>;
possibility of holding one and the same truth by both science and faith; belief in Divine
authority contained in an act of faith; production of the body and blood of Christ by
transubstantiation as constituting the Eucharistic sacrifice; the final grace of the Blessed
Virgin Mary superior to that of the angels and saints combined.
"Suarez classes" were established in several universities--Valladolid, Salamanca (1720),
Alcala (1734)--and various Scholastic authors wrote their works <ad mentem Saii>.
Charles III suppressed those classes throughout his dominions by a royal decree of 12
August, 1768, and prohibited the use of Jesuit authors, and therefore of Suarez, in
teaching. It is obvious, says Cardinal Gonzalez, that, in so many volumes written by
Suarez, there are to be found some matters of little utility, or the practical or scientific
importance of which are not in proportion to the time and space that Suarez devotes to
them. He is also charged with being somewhat diffuse. His book "De Defensione
Fidei" was burned at London by royal command, and was prohibited by the Parliament
of Paris (1614) on the ground that it contained doctrines that were contrary to the
power of sovereigns.
WORKS
Suarez published his first work, "De Deo Incarnato", at Alcala, in 1590; he published
twelve other volumes, the last of which, "De Defensio Fidei," written against the King
of England, was published at Coimbra, in 1613. After his death the Jesuits of Portugal
published ten other volumes of his work, between 1619 and 1655. Of all of these works,
two different editions were made; the first, at Venice, 23 volumes in folio (1740-1757);
and the second in Paris (Vives), 28 volumes (1856-1861). In 1859 Mgr Manlou
published another volume in folio, containing six short treatises that had not been
previously published. Father De Scorraille (Etudes, Vol. LXIV, pp. 151-175) gave an
account of the manuscripts of Suarez, noting the fact that they were numerous and that
he himself possessed seventy-five of them. Many of these and others besides were
found by Father Riviere. The works of Suarez were held in the highest esteem in his
day, as is shown by the numerous partial editions that were made of them (Lyons,
Salamanca, Madrid, Coimbra, Mayence, Cologne, Paris, Evora, Genoa), as also by the
fact, related by his biographies, that one of the wings of the old college of the Jesuits at
Salamanca was restored with the product of the sale of his metaphysical works. A
compendium of the theology of Suarez was published by Father Noel, S.J. (Madrid,
1732); a short epitome of this theological disputes, by the Portuguese Father Francis
Soarez, S.J. (Lisbon, 1626), and a compendium of the metaphysics, by Father Gregorio
Iturria, S.J. (Madrid, 1901).
A. PEREZ GOYENA
Transcribed by Janet Grayson
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an effort aimed at placing the
entire Catholic Encyclopedia on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
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