PEREZ, ANTONIO. - Benedictine writer and theologian, archbishop, b. at S. Domenico di Silos on 2 May 1559, d. at Madrid on 19 May 1637. Abbot of S. Vincenzo in Salamanca until 1607, he served as general of the Valladolid Congregation for three years. He was twice abbot of S. Martino in Madrid, from 1617 to 1621 and from 1625 to 1627.
For his learning he enjoyed the esteem of Philip IV, who appointed him his theologian and qualificator of the Supreme Inquisition. He was named bishop, first of Santa Fé, a see he declined on account of his advanced age, then of Urgel, which he governed for six years before moving to Lérida; in 1634 archbishop of Tarragona, in 1637 transferred to the diocese of Avila, of which he could not take possession owing to his death.
He left works of theology and history of great value: Pentateuchus fidei, sive de Ecclesia, de Conciliis, de Scriptura sacra, de Traditionibus sacris, de Romano Pontifice (Madrid 1620); Commentaria in Regulam s. Patris Benedicti (Lyons 1625; 2nd ed. Barcelona 1632); Authentica sanctorum quatuor Evangelistarum fides, adversus omnes reputantes, haereticos ethnicosque philosophos (Lyons 1926); similar writings also on the apostolic letters and acts.