LA PALMA, LUIS de. - Jesuit, ascetical writer, b. at Toledo in 1550, d. at Madrid on 20 Apr. 1641. Having completed his studies, he was almost always in positions of government: superior at Talavera, Villarejo, Madrid, Alcalà, Murcia, and twice provincial of Toledo (1615-18; 1624-27).
He devoted himself to preparing his works for publication, at the command of his superiors, who knew how much they were sought after by his hearers; thus there appeared the two truly classical works that won for him the reputation of the best master of spirituality of his century: Historia de la sagrada Pasión, sacada de los 4 Evangelios (Alcalà 1624), not a critical and scholarly history, but a meditated history, rich in sentiments
and in practical and effective counsels; Camino espiritual (2 vols., ibid. 1626), a full commentary on the book of the Exercises of St. Ignatius. The two works were to have been followed by other volumes; but only this was published: Practica y breve declaración del « Camino espiritual » (Madrid 1629). Published posthumously were: Tractatus aliqui de examine conscientiae generali, quotidiano (Antwerp 1710).
94-95; J. Rodriguez Molero, Mística y estil de la « Hist. sagrada de la Pasión » del p. L. de la P., in Revista de espiritualidad, 3 (1944), pp. 295-331; F. Cereceda, Carta necrologica sobre el p. L. de la P., in Manresa, 17 (1945), pp. 155-61.