Ferreres, Juan Bautista

FERRERES, JUAN BAUTISTA. - Jesuit, moralist and canonist, b. at Olleria (diocese of Valencia) on 28 Nov. 1861, d. in prison at Valencia on 28 Dec. 1936. Having barely completed his studies, from 1900 until his death he was professor of moral theology and canon law at the College of Sarrià (Barcelona), except for the interval 1918-24, which he spent in Rome. When the anarcho-communist revolution broke out, he believed his native village to be a safer refuge; but, once discovered, he had to present himself at Valencia; there he was thrown without further ado into prison, where he was left to languish until the end, since he could not be transported on the cart to the place of execution.

Endowed with singular talents, accompanied by tireless activity, he not only kept abreast of all innovations in the field of his subject, but vigorously tackled the study of modern questions—medical, social, economic—illuminating them with the light of Catholic morality. He wrote a great deal: Compendium theologiae moralis (2 vols., Barcelona 1904), at first a reissue of the text of G. J. P. Gury; then increasingly updated and reworked (16th ed., ibid. 1939); Casus conscientiae (2 vols., 5th ed., ibid. 1926), Institutiones canonicae (2 vols., ibid. 1918); the first and the third of these works were also published in Spanish for the convenience of physicians and professionals. Very many other questions, treated most often, and first, in the canonical bulletin of Razón y Fe, later appeared separately and met with flattering receptions: for example, Lo que debe hacerse y lo que hay que evitar en la celebración de las misas manuales (3rd ed., Madrid 1906); La muerte real y la muerte aparente con relación a los Santos Sacramentos (4th ed., ibid. 1910); La Comunión frecuente y diaria y la primera Comunión (Barcelona 1911); Las cofradías y Congregaciones eclesiásticas según la disciplina vigente (ibid. 1907); Las religiosas según la disciplina vigente (Madrid 1908); Los esponsales y el matrimonio según la novísima disciplina (Madrid 1908); Las misas manuales según la disciplina vigente (ibid. 1924), etc.

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