ANDREA DE ESCOBAR. — Most famous Benedictine theologian and canonist of the 15th century, born in Lisbon. His works, largely unpublished, have been handed down in an extraordinarily high number of manuscripts. He attended the Councils of Constance, Basel, and Ferrara-Florence; at the last of these he recanted his rigid conciliarist ideas.
Noteworthy is his treatise *De Graecis eremitibus*, composed as a rule for future Florentine union. In it, besides the originality in the parts developed independently of his model St. Thomas, he was the first to affirm not only the validity but also the legitimacy of the different rites in the Church, which were to be equally respected without preference for the Roman rite, provided they were not tainted by doctrinal errors.
Many writings have been composed about E., but the facts of his life, lacking true knowledge of the sources until now, are generally presented with little critical certainty.