Cornelius a Lapide (Cornelis Cornelis-Sen van den Steen)

CORNELIUS A LAPIDE (Cornelis Cornelis-Sen van den Steen). - Celebrated exegete, b. at Bocholt (Belgian province of Limburg) on 18 Dec. 1567, d. at Rome on 11 or 12 March 1637. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1592, was ordained a priest in 1595, was professor of Sacred Scripture at Louvain from 1596 to 1616, and from 1616 until his death at the Roman College.

C. commented on the whole of Sacred Scripture with the exception of two books: Job and the Psalms. Of his commentaries on Sacred Scripture, the following were published by himself: Epistolae Dici Pauli (1614); Pentateuchus (1616); Jeremias (1621) together with Baruch and Lamentations; Ezechiel (1621), Daniel (1621). He then published the book of Jonah, adding a new edition of the preceding works: Quattuor maiores prophetae (1622). There followed: Duodecim minores prophetae (1625); Actus Apostolorum, Epistolae canonicae, Apocalypsis (1621); Ecclesiasticus I and II (1633-34), Proverbia (1635). Published after his death were: Ecclesiastes (1638), Cantica Canticorum (1638), Liber Sapientiae (1638), Evangelia (1639) I (Mt. and Mk.), and II (Lk. and Jn.), Iosue, Judicum, Ruth, IV Regum, I-II Paral. (1642), Esdras, Nehemias, Tobias, Iudith, Esther (1645), I-II Machabaei (1645).

New editions appeared while he was still alive. Among the later ones, the Antwerp edition (1681), in 10 vols., deserves special mention. A large part of C.'s works was included by J. P. Migne in his collection Cursus S. Scripturae, vols. V-XX, Paris 1837-45.

There are moreover the two complete editions of Malta (21 vols., 1843-51), and of Paris (also 21 vols., 1866), edited by A. Crampon (v.), who completed the edition by adding to it B. Cordier's (v.) commentary on the book of Job and that of Card. Bellarmine on the Psalms. From 1912 new editions of the commentary on the Gospels and on St. Paul have been issued at Turin, edited by A. Padovani. The Memoriale praedicatorum is an extract from C.'s works edited by J. M. Peronne (Paris 1867). More widely circulated: Les trésors de C. a L., edited by Abbot Barbier (4 vols., Paris 1856; Italian version, 2nd ed., 10 vols., Parma 1900; new version, 3 vols., Turin 1930).

All admire the author's great erudition, his scrupulous diligence and the luminous intelligence with which he treats the Sacred Scriptures. These qualities mean that, although many new questions have arisen on one point or another, his magnificent volumes still retain authority today. The objections made against him are of slight importance; and the narratives often added to the biblical interpretations meet with little acceptance.

Urbano Holzmeister