HERRERA, PEDRO de. - Dominican theologian, b. in Seville in 1548, d. in Salamanca on 31 Dec. 1630. He entered religious life at Salamanca, completed his studies in the same city, and was promoted reader in theology in 1567. In 1604, upon the death of Domenico Bañez, he won the competition for the first chair at the University of Salamanca against Alfonso Curiel, who was strongly supported by the non-Dominican masters.
He taught there with distinction until 1617, when he became the first holder of another chair founded by Filippo III. In 1621 he was appointed bishop of the Canaries. The following year he was transferred to the see of Tuy and in 1630 to that of Tarragona, but died before taking possession of II. A keen interpreter of St. Thomas and a good scholar of Sacred Scripture, he wrote several works, among them an extensive commentary on the Summa of St. Thomas, but published only a Tractatus de Trinitate d. Thomae Aquinatis cum commentariis et disputationibus (Pavia 1627).