LACUNZA Y DIAZ, MANUEL de. — Jesuit, theologian, b. in Santiago del Cile on 19 June 1731, d. in Imola on 18 June 1801. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1747. After the Jesuits were expelled from all the territories dependent on the crown of Spain, L. took refuge, with other confrères, in Imola (then belonging to the Papal States), where, leading a very secluded life, he compiled the lengthy eschatological work: Venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad, under the pseudonym Juan Josafet Ben-Ezra.
It is divided into three parts; in the first, the author distinguishes three forms of millenarianism: heretical (Cerinthus), Judaizing (Apollinaris), and orthodox (Justin, Irenaeus, Lactantius); L. aligns himself with the latter, maintaining a double resurrection. In the second, he reviews the principal phenomena that precede the establishment of the millennial kingdom (the four beasts of Daniel, the Antichrist, the conversion of the Jews). In the third, he describes the glorious coming of Christ, the Last Judgment, the new Jerusalem, and the happiness of the millennial kingdom.
Printed posthumously in Spain, at an uncertain date and place (perhaps on the island of S. Fernando near Cádiz), it went through numerous editions and translations (Latin, Italian, English). Written by a learned and pious man who, in the hope of a better age, alleviated the sufferings of exile, the work, with its apocalyptic pages suffused with mystical inspiration, aroused great enthusiasm and lively controversy, which culminated in its inclusion in the Index on 6 September 1824 (v. MILLESARBATO).