GERARDO del MONTE (de Monte). — Philosopher and writer, b. at Heerenberg around 1400, d. at Cologne on 31 October 1480. Enrolled at the University of Cologne in 1421, he taught philosophy there first (1424–38) and then theology. He was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy from 1427 to 1433; twice rector of the University (1436, 1453), and thereafter for 49 years (1431–80) rector of the Gymnasium called Borsa, which was named del Monte after him.
A disciple of Enrico di Gorcum, in the controversies between Albertists and Thomists he was a tenacious supporter of the Thomist theses and an advocate of the real agreement between s. Tommaso and Alberto Magno on all the points under discussion. Thus, against Heymericus de Campo, leader of the opposition and author of the Problemata inter s. Thomam et Albertum Magnum, he wrote a Tractatus ad favorabilem dirigens concordiam quaedam problemata inter s. Thomam et venerabilem Albertum; he also wrote Tractatus concordantiae (ed. Cologne [1496] and recently by G. Meersseman, Rome 1934), in which he highlights the real agreement existing between theses of s. Tommaso that apparently contradict one another. He replied to Heymericus’s Insectiva with the Apologia (ed. in G. Meersseman, Geschichte des Albertismus, II, Rome 1935, pp. 122–28), in which he recounts the history of the controversy from 1423 and refutes his opponent’s calumnies.