Antonio della Madre di Dio

ANTONIO DELLA MADRE DI DIO. - 1. Spanish exegete, Discalced Carmelite, b. at Valladolid, d. in 1679. He was general visitor of the West Indies and taught at Salamanca in the college of his Order.

He published a "plane erudita" (Hurter) general introduction to Sacred Scripture: Praeludia iagogica ad SS. Bibliorum intelligentiam (in fol., Lyon 1669; Mainz 1670), in which he treats of inspiration, of the canon, of the original languages and of the versions, of the individual proto-and deuterocanonical books; interesting for the time is the appendix De notitia et usu eruditionis profanae, ubi stabilitur ex Scriptura et Patribus talem notitiam et usum licitum esse ac decentem. A clear and profound work, it acutely explains, among other things, the divine inspiring influence (Praeludium, I, dist. IV), the concept of canonicity (ibid., d. VIII), the biblical senses (Prael., III, d. I).

2. To be distinguished from the preceding (confused by B. Heurtebize in DB, I, coll. 708-709) is the namesake of the Order of St. Paul the First Hermit, of Lisbon, who at the end of the 17th century published the notable and very extensive literal and spiritual commentary on Proverbs, chaps. 10-14 (and on many related passages gathered from throughout the Bible): Apis Libani circumvoltans flores in horto Salomonis, I, (Prov. 10), Lyon 1686; II (Prov. 11-12), ibid. 1695; III (Prov. 13-14), ibid. 1698.

Antonino Romeo