MADRID (Madridius), CRISTÓBAL. - Spanish Jesuit and ascetical writer, born at Daimiel (diocese of Toledo) about 1503, died in Rome on 13 Aug. 1573. He was received into the Society of Jesus in 1550 by its founder himself, St. Ignatius. Superior for many years, he governed the professed house in Rome and was assistant for Italy (1555).
The small work that made him famous was a treatise on frequent reception of the Eucharist, De frequenti usu sanctissimi Eucharistiac sacramenti libellus (Naples 1556, Rome 1557). It was the first work on the frequency of Communion printed by a Jesuit (a similar small work had already been prepared by Fr. N. Bobadilla, at the urging of St. Ignatius, in 1551, but remained unpublished until 1933). M. made use of material prepared by Fr. A. Salmerone, polishing the style and arranging the subject matter for the first Naples edition; he then revised and corrected it more carefully for the Rome edition. It went through repeated editions and translations in Italy, Belgium, and France, at the first spread of the Calvinist heresy.