LATOMUS, JAKOB (JACQUES MASSON). — Theologian, born at Cambron (Hennegau) around 1475, died at Louvain on 29 May 1544. In Paris he obtained the degree of magister artium; in 1505 he was called to Louvain, where he directed the house founded by van Standonk for poor students; from 1522 he was theological consultor to the imperial inquisitor van der Hulst.
L. is known especially for the controversies he engaged in against Erasmus and Luther. In 1519 he published De trium linguarum et studii ratione dialogus (Paris 1519, modern edition in S. Cramer-F. Pijper, op. cit. in the bibliography, pp. 7–84), which earned him on the Erasmian side a reputation as an enemy of the humanistic movement. In reality, L. also knew how to value the new tendencies in the defense of Catholic truth. For this very reason Erasmus retained his esteem for him, and Luther said of him: L. optimus omnium, qui contra me scripserunt (Tisch-reden Luthers, ed. W. Preger, Leipzig 1888, no. 431). L., together with the learned men of his University, was among the first and most determined opponents of Luther’s doctrine. When the latter rebelled against the condemnation issued by the University of Louvain, L. defended Catholic doctrine, publishing in 1521: Articulorum doctrinae fratris M. Lutheri per theologos Lovanenses damnatorum ratio (Antwerp 1521), and replying to a second response by Luther with De primatu Romani pontificis adversus Lutherum (Antwerp 1525, modern edition in S. Cramer-F. Pijper, op. cit., pp. 85–195) and with Responsio ad Lutherum (there 1525). For purposes of controversy, in these writings L. bases himself solely on Scripture and the Fathers, although the relevant texts are only loosely connected and joined according to purely external criteria. Other polemical writings include De confessione secreta (there 1525) against Oecolampadius and Beatus Rhenanus; against Melanchthon: Duae epistolae (there 1544); his writings on Grace, religious vows, Marriage, and the veneration of the Saints are of lesser value.