PELTEN, THEODORUS. – Jesuit, theologian, born at Pelta (Overpelt, Belgium), from which he took his name, ca. 1510, died at Augsburg on 2 May 1584. He was one of the first professors of the Collegio Romano; he subsequently taught Greek, Latin, and Hebrew at Naples. He then became professor of theology at Ingolstadt, at Munich, and later once again at Ingolstadt for 12 years (1562–74). His great erudition was highly admired, all the more because he had begun studying late, after having apparently worked as a shoemaker. P. was also one of the most able defenders of Catholic doctrine against the Protestants.
His principal works are polemical. At the University of Ingolstadt, under his direction, the following theses were defended: De maiestate hominis Christi (Ingolstadt 1564); De Extremae Unctimis Sacramento (there 1565); De Baptismo (there 1566); De S.mo Eucharistiae Sacramento (there 1566); Commentatio de indulgentiis ecclesiasticis (there 1566). Until 1572, all the subjects of controversy with the Protestants, as well as other theological subjects, were treated in the theses defended under P.
Works written by P. himself (composed after his departure from Ingolstadt) are the following: De nostra satisfactione et Purgatorio (Cologne 1576); De originis peccato disceptatio, item de Christi satisfactione et maiestate (there 1576).
He also published important texts and translations, including S. Ioannis Chrysostomi... in Divi Pauli epistolas (Paris 1596, a work also published in the Bibl. maxima Patrum of
