MOLINA, LUIS de. - Jesuit theologian, who linked his name to Molinism (v.), b. at Cuenca (New Castile) in 1556, d. at Toledo on 12 Oct. 1600. A religious at Alcalá (1553), he was immediately sent to Coimbra to complete his studies. Appointed professor of dogmatics at Evora, he remained there for twenty years (1566-1586).
When the controversy that had arisen at Louvain also flared up in Spain over the theological theses with which Lessius, in order to safeguard the freedom of created will, denied the intrinsic efficacy of Grace and upheld predestination post praevisa merita, M., in his attempt to find a point of agreement with the opposing doctrines of the Dominicans, thought to develop and apply to the question of Grace the concept of divine foreknowledge of future contingents through middle knowledge, as had already been indicated by Fonseca. Thus was born the Concordia liberi arbitrii cum Gratiae donis, divina praescientia, providentia, praedestinatione et reproductione ad nonnullos primae partis D. Thomae articulos (Lisbon 1588), with a laudatory presentation by the Dominican Bartolomé Ferreira, delegated censor of the Portuguese Inquisition. It had numerous other editions (Cuenca 1592, Lyon 1593, Venice 1594); the last is that of Paris (1876), in which the title is slightly changed.
The governor of Portugal, Card. Albert of Austria, to whom the work was dedicated, prevented its sale and secretly transmitted it to Bañez (v.), who had it examined by the University of Salamanca, which found in it certain censurable propositions. The cardinal referred these censures to M., who responded with a memorandum, added in an appendix to the edition, of which the sale was then permitted. The work, as the title indicates, is an extensive commentary on the Sum. Theol., 1st part, q. 14, a. 13, q. 19, a. 6; q. 22 and 23. It did not, however, achieve the irenic aim proposed by the author, since it sharpened the discussion of the doctrines set forth in it, so much so that Clement VIII reserved to himself the judgment on the work and on the whole question (v. CONGREGAZIONI ROMANE SACRE, III). For over 20 years the danger of a condemnation hung over the Concordia. M., to prepare himself better for its defense, left Evora for the College of Cuenca. Here he devoted himself to two new works: the Commentaria in primam Divi Thomae partem (2 vols., Cuenca 1592, Lyon 1593, Venice 1594) and the De iustitia et iure (6 vols., partly published posthumously; partial editions: Cuenca 1593, 1597, 1600, Antwerp 1600; complete edition: Cologne 1613, Venice 1614, Antwerp 1615). In 1600 he was summoned by the visitor of the province of Toledo to Madrid to occupy there the chair of moral theology that had recently been established, but he died after only six months.
M., an exemplary religious and of profound interior life, was placed by circumstances at the head of one of the most celebrated modern dogmatic currents. M.'s importance is not, however, restricted to the field of dogmatic theology, in which his personal contribution was limited to a single question.
He excels as a jurist and moralist. In his De iustitia, he did not engage merely in casuistry, but, insisting on the philosophy of law, he sought to lay a scientific foundation for his solutions and contributed greatly to shedding light on the relations between State and Church and to indicating, at least in principle, the solution of the economic questions that were already making themselves felt in his time.