BAÑEZ, DOMINGO. – Dominican theologian, celebrated student and interpreter of St. Thomas, born on 29 February 1528 at Valladolid and died on 21 October 1604 at Medina del Campo. The original form of his name was Beñes, later Castilianized as « Bañez ». After completing his early studies at Medina del Campo, he continued them, at about fifteen years of age, at Salamanca, where, three years later, he entered the Order of the Dominicans, making his profession in the convent of S. Stefano (1547). Here he completed his studies under such distinguished masters as Melchior Cano and Domenico Soto. In 1552 he began his long teaching career: for three years he taught arts at the convent of S. Stefano, and then for five years commented on the Summa of St. Thomas. Subsequently (1559-60) he taught Sacred Scripture in the same convent. In 1561 he was sent to Avila as professor of theology in the restored general studium of the Order; in the years 1567-69 he was at Alcalà, again professor of theology at the convent of S. Tommaso. He returned to Salamanca in 1570, where he continued teaching theology until 1573; he then went to Valladolid, where he taught until 1577 at the college of S. Gregorio. When the theological chair known as « di Durando » became vacant at the University of Salamanca in 1577, B. entered the competition and won it brilliantly. Three years later (1581), when the « prima » chair of the same university became vacant upon the death of Bartolomeo di Medina, B. succeeded him, again through a competition, and held it for 20 years, that is, until 1600, when, four years before his death, weighed down by advanced age, he requested permission to retire.
B. occupies an important place in the history of theology, particularly in the history of Thomism. A serious student of St. Thomas, whom he sincerely loved and whom he declared he wished to follow in everything, during his many years of study and teaching he had the opportunity to make the doctrine thoroughly his own, while clothing it in a certain rigidity to which his temperament inclined him. This became especially evident when, in 1588, Ludovico Molina published his Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae domis, on the difficult problem of grace and predestination. Officially asked for his judgment on Molina’s book, B. believed that he found in it several propositions proscribed a few years earlier by the Spanish Inquisition, following the discussions provoked at the University of Salamanca by the thesis on the freedom of Christ, defended by Prudenzio di Monte Mayor and supported by Luigi di León. The controversy with Molina continued and assumed proportions well known, with the intervention of the Inquisition first, then the referral of the entire question to the tribunal of the Supreme Pontiff, and the consequent establishment of the Congregatio de auxiliis (v.). It was during this controversy that B. published, in collaboration with several other Dominicans, the Apologia Fratrum Praedicatorum in provincia Hispaniae s. Theologiae professorum adversus quasdam assertiones cuiusdam doctoris Ludovici Molinae mucupati (Madrid 1595). The doctrine of divine concurrence, grace, and predestination which B. defended in this work, as in his commentaries on the Summa, and for which he has chiefly remained famous in the history of theology, tends to accentuate God’s sovereignty and absolute dominion over the actions of the free creature. While acknowledging B.’s sincere intentions, since he aimed at a faithful development of the principles of Thomism, it seems necessary, in the judgment of many, to admit that on this particular subject he forced the thought of St. Thomas (v. BANNESIANESIMO).
B., a brilliant professor, eloquent orator, sincere controversialist, and writer whose style was somewhat harsh but firm in dialectical power and depth of thought, was also a religious of exemplary life and a sure guide along the paths of holiness. For six years he was the confessor of St. Teresa, whom he met at Avila in 1562, and throughout her life her esteemed adviser. He was also on intimate terms with King Filippo II, from whom he received several confidential assignments, and was finally appointed qualificator of the Inquisition.
The works of B., besides the already cited Apologia, include: Scholastica Commentaria in Iem partem Angelici Doctoris (2 vols., first published at Salamanca in 1584 and 1588); Scholastica Commentaria in 2em-2em (2 vols., there, 1584 and 1594); In 1em-2em (2 vols., edition of unpublished works by V. Beltrán de Heredia, there, 1942, 1944); In Aristot. de gener. et corr. (there, 1585); Institutiones minoris dialecticae (Colonia 1599), and several other minor writings.