CASAL, Gaspar. - Distinguished Portuguese theologian, b. at Santarém c. 1510, d. at Coimbra 9 Aug. 1584. Having entered the Augustinians, he studied and taught at Coimbra; preconized bishop of Funchal on the island of Madeira (1551), he was promoted in 1557 to the see of Leiria and then to that of Coimbra in 1579. Sent by King Sebastian to the Council of Trent, he distinguished himself there by his timely and acute observations on the great problems then under discussion (1561-63).
All his theological output, reflecting the concerns of the moment, is directed against Protestantism: *Axionatum christianorum* II, 3 (Coimbra 1550, defence of tradition and the magisterium of the Church); *De sacrificio Missae* (Venice 1563); *De coena et calice Dni ad Prum* IV (ibid. 1563); *De quadripartita iustitia* (ibid. 1565, on the nature of justification). Of particular interest is his book on the Mass, in which, with great learning, he constructs a synthesis echoing the thought of St Thomas, Cajetan and foreshadowing the theory of *immolatio per reductionem in statum declivorum* of Lugo and Franzelin. Symptomatic is the phrase: *Non potest ibi (Christus) exercere aliquam operationem vitalem* (*De sacrif. Missae*, cap. 19, f. 61).