ANDRADE, ALFONSO de. - Ascetical writer, born at Toledo (1590), Jesuit in 1612, professor of philosophy and theology, qualificator of the Inquisition, rural missionary for 50 years, died at Madrid on 29 June 1672.
A biographer, he continued the Varones illustres... de la Compañía de Jesús by Fr. Nieremberg (V-VI, Madrid 1666-67) and published a Vida de la gloriosa virgen y abadesa s. Gertrudis, Madrid 1663. His ascetical output includes the Meditaciones diarias, 4 vols., Madrid 1660, arranged according to the course of the liturgical year, and books of specialized spiritual instruction according to the classes of persons: Libro de la guía de la salud y de la imitación de Nuestra Señora para todos los estados, 3 vols., Madrid 1642-46; Buen soldado católico, ibid. 1642; Estudiante perfecto, ibid. 1643, and others. He translated into Castilian the spiritual treatises of St. Roberto Bellarmino and published a collection of Avisos espirituales de la gloriosa Madre santa Teresa de Jesús comentados, Madrid 1660 (in Italian at Venice, 1720).