AGUIRRE, JOSÉ SAENZ de. - Benedictine theologian, b. at Logroño (Spain) in 1630, created cardinal by Innocent XI in 1686, d. at Rome in 1699.
The A., professor of Sacred Scripture, dogmatic theology, and moral theology at Salamanca, published works on theology and law, including a Defensio cathedrae Sancti Petri adversus declarationes cleri gallici (Salamanca 1683). But he is known above all for a collection of ecclesiastical laws concerning Spain and Latin America, to which he gave, in the pompous style of the time, the title: Collectio maxima conciliorum omnium Hispaniae et Novi Orbis, epistolarum, decretalium celebriorum, necnon plurium monumentorum veterum ad illam spectantium, cum notis et dissertationibus quibus sacri canones, historia ac disciplina ecclesiastica et chronologia accurate illustrantur. The collection had two editions: the first, in 4 folio volumes, in 1693-94; the second, in 6 folio volumes, in 1753-56.
As is apparent from the title, the collection assembles conciliar laws and other legislative documents, all accompanied by learned historical and doctrinal dissertations. Even today, the collection is not without practical interest.