LEANDRO di SAN MARTINO (JONES JOHN). — Benedictine theologian, b. in London to a Protestant family in 1575, d. there on 27 Dec. 1636. He attended the schools of Westminster and Oxford, where, although Protestant, he defended theses that led to suspicions of his being Catholic, for which he was removed. He then went to Spain (1596), where, having converted, he entered the Benedictine Order (1599).
For 22 years he taught theology, Holy Scripture, and Hebrew at the College of Douai. Prior of the monastery (1612), he was elected president of the English Benedictine Congregation in 1622. His biblical publications were highly esteemed. In collaboration with Giovanni Gallemart he published: Biblia iuxta editiones ante editionem Clementinam cum glossa ordinaria (6 vols., Douai 1617; Antwerp 1634, improved). At the end of each volume are the corrections by Luca di Bruges. Critically curated, thanks to the copious indices, the work, besides being useful to scholars, also proved practically helpful for preaching; Historia et harmonia Consiliorum (Frankfurt 1618). He also edited various theological and apologetic works by earlier authors, the principal of which is: S. Cuminaro O. Min., Conciliatio locorum specie tenus pugnantium totius Sacrae Scripturae (ibid. 1623).