PHILIP THE MAGNANIMOUS. – Landgrave of Hesse, b. 13 Nov. 1504, d. 31 Mar. 1567. He succeeded his father William II in 1509 and, after several years of regency, assumed power in 1518, excluding the nobles from any interference in government. With great energy he suppressed the peasants’ revolt. At first hesitant before the “Reformation,” in 1524 a colloquy with Melanchthon convinced him to adhere to II.
From that moment F. worked to create a union of all Evangelicals. To this end he convened the convention of Hornberg in 1526, where the Reformata Hissiae was decreed, establishing a presbyterial order and the autonomy of the communities, but it was never implemented. Persistently pursuing his plan for a unified humanist league, in 1529 F. arranged the meeting at Marburg between Luther and Zwingli, but the attempt was unsuccessful. His advocacy of this cause placed him increasingly in sharp conflict with the Emperor and the Catholic princes. After the Diet of Augsburg, Hesse and Saxony took the lead in the League of Schmalkalden. A severe blow to the interests of the Evangelicals was dealt by the scandalous private life of F., who in 1540 separated from his wife Christina of Saxony and, with her consent, married a court lady. The affair became public and caused an uproar; since imperial law punished bigamy with the death penalty, F. bought Charles V’s pardon by committing to prevent the Schmalkaldic League from allying with France and England. In the Schmalkaldic War F. acted feebly and gave no help to Saxony when it was attacked by imperial forces. After the battle of Mühlberg (1547), F. submitted to the Emperor, who had him deported to the Netherlands, where he was freed only in 1552 by the princes’ revolt.
Roberto Palmarocchi
PHILIP OF THE HOLY TRINITY. – Philosopher, theologian, and mystic of the Discalced Carmelites, secular name Julien Esprit, b. at Malaucène (Vaucluse) on 19 July 1603, d. at Naples on 21 Feb. 1671. He professed at Lyon and, having left Rome (1629) for the Eastern missions, crossed Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Persia, and reached Goa (India) in 1631, where for many years he was superior of the convent and professor of philosophy and theology. The geographical and historical knowledge he acquired during his long Eastern travels was described by him in the well-known Itinerarium Orientale (Lyon 1669; later translated into French, Italian, and German). Returning from India (1639), he became definitor general (1659), then prepositus general (1665–71) until his death.
His works, still highly esteemed and sought after today for their depth and clarity, include, besides the aforementioned, many others of lesser importance: Summa philosophica (Lyon 1648, Cologne 1654, 1665); Summa theologica Thomistica (5 vols., Lyon 1653 ff.); Summa theologica mystica (ibid. 1656, Brussels 1874); Maria sicut aurora consurgens seu de Immaculata Conceptione (Lyon 1667); Historia Carmelitani Ordinis (ibid. 1656); Decor Carmeli Religiosi (ibid. 1665).