CABEZUDO, NUÑO DIEGO. - Dominican theologian and polemicist, b. at Villalón (Castile), d. at Segovia while prior in February 1614. He entered religious life at the age of sixteen and soon distinguished himself by the keenness of his intellect. For thirty years he taught in many houses of study of the Order, especially at the college of S. Gregorio in Valladolid, where he was also regent. A profound scholar and clear expositor of the doctrine of s. Tommaso, he was a vigorous defender of it against the Molinist Jesuit Antonio di Padilla (1594). As a result of these controversies his reputation greatly increased, and throughout Spain his word enjoyed considerable authority.
He wrote: Commentarii ac disputationes in III partem Summae Theologiae D. Thomae Aquinatis, cum additionibus eiusdem nunc primum accurate juxta atque lueclenter discussis (two vols., Valladolid 1601-1609, Venice 1612, Cologne 1630). In the following Cologne edition (1663) the work was given the title: Divus Thomas explanatus sive... commentaria scholastica in III partem D. Thomae de Sacramentis, and four new treatises were added: 1) De auctoritate summi Pontificis et conciliorum, 2) De indulgentiis, 3) De auxiliis divinae gratiae, 4) De bulla cruciata dicta. Another posthumous work of his is: Tractatio in III partem Summae theologiae D. Thomae nunc primum in lucem edita, sed accurate recognita (Rome 1682), published under the editorship of the future master general A. Cloche.