ANTONIO della MADRE DI DIO. - I. 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 “clearly learned” (Hurter) general introduction to Holy Scripture: *Praeludia iasogica ad SS. Bibliorum intelligentiam* (folio, Lyons 1669; Mainz 1670), in which he treats of inspiration, the canon, the original languages and versions, and the individual proto- and deutero-canonical books; noteworthy for the period 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 explains trenchantly, among other things, the divine inspirative influence (*Praeludium*, I, dist. IV), the concept of canonicity (*ibid.*, VIII), and the biblical senses (*Prael.*, III, d. I).
2. Distinct from the foregoing (confounded by B. Heurtebize in DB, I, cols. 708-709) is the namesake of the Order of St Paul the First Hermit, of Lisbon, who at the close of the 17th century published the notable and ample literal and spiritual commentary on *Proverbs*, chs. 10-14 (and on many kindred passages grouped from all parts of the Bible): *Apis Libani circumvolutans flores in horto Salomonis*, I, (*Prov.*, 10), Lyons 1686; II (*Prov.*, 11-12), ibid. 1695; III (*Prov.*, 13-14), ibid. 1698.