ALCALÁ DE HENARES

ALCALÁ DE HENARES. — City of central Spain (the Roman Complutum), in the province of Madrid, formerly the seat of a diocese (v. MADRID).

1. THE UNIVERSITY

But the true Complutensian University, rival of Salamanca and called by the Spaniards «the eighth wonder of the world», was the work of the Franciscan Francesco Ximenes (Jiménez de Cisneros), elected archbishop of Toledo in 1495 and created cardinal in 1507. With the aim of providing the diocese with a learned and numerous clergy, and of facilitating the education of poor students who were unable to travel far, he conceived the idea of establishing a great university. For this he obtained from Alexander VI, on 13 Apr. 1499, the founding bull Inter cetera, which granted it the same privileges as the Universities of Salamanca, Valladolid, Bologna, and others. With broad vision and ample resources, Ximenes began the work in 1498, extending it over a decade. 25 July 1508, the date of the inauguration of the major college of S. Ildefonso, the university’s centre, is historically regarded as the beginning of its academic courses.

Through the variety of its institutions and colleges (Cisneros had conceived eighteen of them), A. became a true city of learning. The college of S. Ildefonso was reserved for theologians, and its superior was ex officio rector of the university; the college of S. Isidoro was intended for students of rhetoric; those of S. Balbina and S. Caterina for philosophers; and that of S. Girolamo, also called the Trilingual College, for the study of the biblical languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Latin). A. was perhaps the first university city to possess a college for women, that of S. Giovanni della Penitenza, directed by Franciscan nuns. Like Salamanca, it also had a university hospital. In 1508–1509 the faculties of philosophy and theology began to function; in the following year, those of arts and canon law. The faculty of medicine was established by Leo X on 3 Nov. 1514. The chairs, which initially numbered 33, soon rose to 46, distributed as follows, with the theological chairs predominating in importance: 8 in theology, 2 in Sacred Scripture, 6 in canon law, 4 in medicine, 2 in anatomy and surgery, 8 in arts and philosophy, 1 in moral theology, 1 in mathematics, and 14 in languages and rhetoric. The faculty of civil law, excluded by the founder, was subsequently established by Alexander VII on 7 June 1656. The statutes, drawn up by the cardinal himself, were published on 22 Jan. 1510 and reformed in 1517. The abbot of S. Giusto exercised the functions of chancellor. Newly graduated students were required to undertake the defence, in public and in private, of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin.

Anticipating the work of the Counter-Reformation, Cisneros sought to make his university an active Catholic humanist centre. He summoned the leading scholars of the time, especially from Salamanca and Paris, and through them initiated outstanding publications, such as the edition of the most ancient liturgical books of the Spanish Church (Mozarabic Liturgy) and the celebrated polyglot Bible, called the Complutensian Bible, the first of its kind (6 folio volumes, 1514–17).

Established during the period of the university’s greatest splendour, the University of A., through the perfection of its organization, the number of its students, and the renown of its teachers, gave great impetus to the Spanish Renaissance of the 16th century, which marks one of the most flourishing periods of Catholic scholarship. Among its most distinguished teachers were Melchior Cano (1543–46), Báñez (1567–69), and Suárez (1585–93). Among its students, who later became professors, were s. Tommaso da Villanova and his illustrious pupil Francesco or Domenico de Soto (1520–24). The Complutensian University fostered the Carmelite reform (cf. s. Teresa, Fondazioni, XXIX, 30). On the so-called Theses of A. during the Thomist-Molinist controversies over the efficacy of grace under Clement VIII (1602), cf. Pastor, XI, pp. 567–71.

After various vicissitudes, in 1836 the University, together with its magnificent library, was transferred to the nearby capital, Madrid, to form the Central University of Spain, the only university which, until recent times, possessed all the faculties and could confer the title of doctor. Initially housed in the Seminary of the Nobles and later in the «Salesas Nuevas», in 1842 it moved into the building it occupied until the construction of the grandiose University City, decreed by King Alfonso XIII (17 May 1927) and inaugurated by General F. Franco on 12 Oct. 1943. It preserves the ancient coat of arms bearing the inscription «Universitas Complutensis. Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid». Among its buildings, the Colegio Mayor Ximénez de Cisneros deserves mention. Today, with its various Colegios, which ensure the spiritual and social formation of students, it is a model university centre.

2. THE CARMELITE COLLEGE

The author of the first volume (Logica) was Fr. Michele della S.ma Trinità; the other three (Comm. in VIII libros Phys. and in libros de Anima) were the work of Fr. Antonio della Madre di Dio (d. 1641), who also edited the first volumes of the subsequent Cursus Theologicus Salmanticensis (v. SALAMANCA). To guarantee the unity of the work and the fidelity of their teaching, down to the smallest details, to the doctrine of s. Tommaso, these learned Carmelites consulted one another collegially, deciding disputed questions by vote whenever agreement could not be reached. Thus the Complutenses, like the Salmanticenses, express the official doctrine of the Order rather than the personal thought of the various authors.

Fr. Biagio della Concezione, a French Discalced Carmelite (d. 1694), completed the Cursus with two further volumes: one on metaphysics (Paris 1640) and the other on moral philosophy (ibid. 1647). Finally, Fr. Giovanni dell’Annunziata (d. 1701), superior general of the Order and the most illustrious editor of the Cursus Salmanticensis, recast, for scholastic use, the work of the professors of A. under the title: Cursus Philosophicus Collegii nostri Complutensis ad clariorem formam redactus, 5 vols., Lyon 1669–71. These five volumes, together with the two by Fr. Biagio della Concezione, formed the complete Cursus Complutensis, in seven volumes. It was received with acclaim by scholars, especially Thomists, particularly in its original form, and went through many reprints.

Notitiae bibliographicae super - Collegii Complutensis Fratrum Carmelitarum Disc. Artium Cursu, in Analecta Ordinis Carmelitarum Discalcatorum, 8 (1933), pp. 267-89; Silverio di S. Teresa, Historia del Carmen Descalzo, IX, Burgos 1940, pp. 1-45 (Los estudios en la Reforma Teresiana; El Curso Complutense). Igino Cecchetti