COMPLUTENSES. - This is the name given to those Discalced Carmelites, professors of philosophy at the College of St. Cyril in Alcalá de Henares (Complutum), who published a philosophical course in the form of Disputationes on the works of Aristotle, according to the genuine doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas.
The course first appeared in 4 vols. under the title: Collegium Complutense philosophicum, hoc est artium cursus, sive disputationes in Aristotelis, dialecticam et philosophiam naturalem, juxta Angelici Doctoris D. Thomae doctrinam et eius scholam (Alcalá 1624 ff.). The first volume, concerning logic, is due to Michael of the Most Holy Trinity (d. 1661); the other three, which concern physics and psychology, to Anthony of the Mother of God (d. 1641). The French Carmelite Blaise of the Conception (d. 1694) added the part concerning metaphysics (2 vols., Paris 1640-42) and the part concerning ethics (ibid. 1647). The course, then, being not very suitable for students on account of its length, was abridged, better ordered and increased with disputationes to complement the material by John of the Annunciation (5 vols., Lyon 1669-71; Cologne 1732) under the title: Collegium Complutense... cursus ad breviorem formam collectus et novo ordine ac facilior stylo dispositus; where the doctrine is not personal, but represents the official thought of the Order. The course and the compendium knew many editions and established themselves in the schools of many nations and of several religious Orders, for their clarity and above all for their adherence to St. Thomas; and they opened the way to the Salmanticenses (v.), also of the same Order, professors at Salamanca, who published the theological course.