FONSECA, Cristóbal de. - Augustinian theologian and preacher, born in S. Eulalia in the diocese of Toledo, he professed among the Augustinians on 8 February 1566, died on 9 November 1621. He distinguished himself in the governance of religious in his province of Castile, for his oratory, and for the purity of the language in his writings in Castilian vernacular. He was highly praised in his own time. Lope de Vega extols him in Book XII of *La Jerusalén conquistada*.
His principal work is the *Trattato del amor de Dios* (Salamanca 1592; Barcelona 1593; Valladolid 1594; again, 1595; Lisbon 1595; Barcelona 1596; Córdoba 1596; Zaragoza 1596; again, 1597; Lisbon 1598; and in the same year, Toledo and Valladolid; Barcelona 1599, 1606, 1608, 1613), Italian trans. by an anonymous author, Brescia 1602, another Italian trans. Venice 1608; Latin trans. by C. Curtius, Ingolstadt 1623. He later published a *Segunda parte* in 2 volumes, Valencia 1608. He also published: *Vida de Cristo Señor Nuestro* (part 1, Toledo 1596; part 2, 1601; part 3, Madrid 1605; part 4, 1611; Venice in Italian) 1608 and again 1622; *Discursos para todos los Evangelios de la Quaresima* (Madrid 1614).