CONIMBRICENSES. – This is the name given to those Jesuits who were professors of philosophy at the University of Coimbra and, between the late 16th and early 17th centuries, published a complete philosophical course based on Aristotelian principles but in a wholly personal manner.
The lectures, first written down by students under dictation, had multiplied in faulty copies; therefore, the Father General Claudio Acquaviva ordered the Portuguese Provincial Pedro Fonseca to prepare a printed edition.
The course, bearing the general title Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis S. I., comprises, in four volumes divided into eight parts, the entire subject matter of philosophy as it was then taught. It was authored in particular by Pedro Fonseca, Emmanuel Goes, Cosmas Magalhaens, Balthasar Alvarez, and Sebastian Couto. The best editions are those of Lisbon (1592–1606) and those that followed almost annually from Cologne and Lyons; all met with wide approval for their fluent Latin, the clear and guiding explanation of the Aristotelian text, the extensive and subtle discussions, and the broad knowledge of the literature on the works of the Greek philosopher.