Bañez, Domingo

BAÑEZ, DOMINGO. - Dominican theologian, a celebrated student and interpreter of St. Thomas, b. 29 Feb. 1528 at Valladolid and d. 21 Oct. 1604 at Medina del Campo. The original form of his name was Beñes, later Castilianized into "Bañez." After his first studies at Medina del Campo, he continued them, around the age of 15, at Salamanca, where, three years later, he entered the Order of Dominicans, making his profession in the convent of St. Stephen (1547). Here he completed his studies under distinguished masters such as Melchior Cano and Dominic Soto. In 1552 he began his long teaching career: for three years he taught arts in the convent of St. Stephen, then for five years he lectured 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 studium generale of the Order; in the years 1567-69 he was at Alcalá, again as professor of theology in the convent of St. Thomas. He returned in 1570 to Salamanca, where he continued teaching theology until 1573; he then went to Valladolid, where he taught until 1577 in the college of St. Gregory. When the so-called "Durandus" chair of theology fell vacant in 1577 at the University of Salamanca, B. took part in the competition and won it brilliantly. Three years later (1581), when the "first" chair of the same university became free upon the death of Bartholomew of Medina, B. succeeded him, again by competition, and held it for 20 years, that is, until 1600, when, four years before his death, weighed down by advanced age, he asked to retire.

B. occupies an important place in the history of theology, particularly in the history of Thomism. A serious meditator on St. Thomas, whom he sincerely loved and whom he professed to wish to follow in all things, in his many years of study and teaching he found occasion to make the doctrine thoroughly his own, though clothing it in a certain rigidity, to which his temperament inclined him. This became particularly evident when in 1588 Ludovicus Molina published his Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, on the arduous problem of Grace and predestination. Officially asked for his judgment on Molina's book, B. believed he found in it certain propositions proscribed a few years earlier by the Spanish Inquisition, following the discussions aroused at the University of Salamanca by the thesis on the freedom of Christ, defended by Prudentius of Monte Mayor and supported by Louis of León. The controversy with Molina had consequences and proportions that are well known, with the intervention first of the Inquisition, then the referral of the whole question to the tribunal of the Supreme Pontiff, and the consequent creation of the Congregatio de auxiliis (v.). It was during this controversy that B. published, in collaboration with certain other Dominicans, the Apologia Fratrum Praedicatorum in provincia Hispaniae s. Theologiae professorum adversus quasdam assertiones cuiusdam doctoris Ludovici Molinae nuncupati (Madrid 1595). The doctrine on divine concurrence, on Grace and predestination that B. defends 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 the sovereignty and absolute dominion of God over the actions of the free creature. While recognizing B.'s sincere intentions, which aimed at a faithful development of the principles of Thomism, it seems that one must admit, in the judgment of many, that on this particular subject he forced the thought of St. Thomas (v. BANNESIANESIMO).

B., a brilliant professor, an eloquent orator, a sincere controversialist, a writer of somewhat harsh style but solid for dialectical vigor and depth of thought, was also a religious of exemplary life and a sure guide in the ways of holiness. For six years he was confessor of St. Teresa, whom he had met at Avila in 1562, and throughout his life her esteemed counselor. He was also on intimate terms with King Philip II, from whom he repeatedly received positions of trust, and finally he was a qualificator of the Inquisition.

Works of B., besides the already cited Apologia: Scholastica Commentaria in Iem partem Angelici Doctoris (2 vols., first published at Salamanca in 1584 and 1588); Scholastica Commentaria in 2em-2em (2 vols., ibid. 1584 and 1594); In 1em-2em (2 vols., edition of unpublished works, by V. Beltrán de Heredia, ibid. 1942, 1944); In Aristot. de gener. et corr. (ibid. 1585); Institutiones minoris dialecticae (Cologne 1599), and some other minor writings.

Ugo Viglino