LUÍS DE LEÓN. Augustinian, poet, writer, theologian, and exegete, born in Belmonte (Cuenca) in 1527 and died in Madrigal on 23 August 1591. Professor of theology at Salamanca (1561–72), moral philosophy (1578–79), and Sacred Scripture (1579–91). Accused, among other things, of preferring the original texts of the Bible to the Vulgate and thus violating the Tridentine decree *Sacrosancta*, on 27 March 1572 he was imprisoned in the Inquisition’s jail in Valladolid, from which he was released on 11 December 1576. His long imprisonment purified his virtues and greatly enhanced his prestige as a scholar.
While in prison, he conceived and began his best works: *In Canticum canticorum triplex explanatio* (Salamanca 1580; Italian trans., 2 vols., Naples 1796), fundamental for his mystical doctrine; *In psalmum 26* (Salamanca 1580); *In Abdiam, in ep. ad Galatas*, etc. (ibid. 1589); *Opera latina* (7 vols., ibid. 1801–95; vols. I–III exegetical, vols. IV–VII commentaries on St. Thomas and Durandus); *De los nombres de Cristo* (ibid. 1583); *La perfecta casada* (ibid. 1583; Italian trans., Venice 1595, Florence 1932); *Poesías propias y versiones sacras y profanas* (Madrid 1631; Italian trans. of the *Proprie*, Florence 1950); *Exposiciones del libro de Job* (Salamanca 1779); *Traducción y declaración de los Cantares de Salomon* (ibid. 1798). Of his works in the vernacular, the first two and the poetry have seen numerous editions; the latest is *Obras completas*, with prologue and notes by F. García (2 vols., Madrid 1950). L. de L. edited the *editio princeps* of the works of St. Teresa (Salamanca 1588) and wrote a vigorous apology for her. Essential for understanding the man is his *Processo*, in *Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España*, X–XI, full of remarkably acute replies.
A prince of Castilian lyric poetry, an unsurpassed master of his native tongue, a connoisseur of Greek, Latin, and Italian classics and of the Church Fathers, L. de L. was above all a passionate scholar and brilliant interpreter of the Bible, to which all his works are directed. The figure of Christ, in His person and in His Church, dominates and vitalizes his thought.
In *Nombres de Cristo*, a masterpiece of Christian Humanism and a splendid model of biblical theology, he discourses on the titles of the Redeemer: shoot, face of God, way, shepherd, mountain, father of the age to come, arm of God the king, prince of peace, spouse, son, beloved, Jesus, angel, composing a veritable treatise on dogma and Christocentric spirituality. Rich in this sense is his commentary on Job. *La perfecta casada*, based on Prov. 31, still retains all its grace and value.