JOHN PONCIUS (PONCE). - Franciscan theologian of the Scotist school, born in Cork (Ireland) in 1603, died in Paris c. 1672. He completed his philosophical studies in Cologne and his theological studies in Louvain.
Called to Rome in 1625 by the Franciscan annalist L. Wadding (q.v.), in addition to teaching theology—which he later also held in Lyons—he collaborated on the Wadding edition of Scotus’s works (Lyons 1639), contributing the *Supplementum* to F. Licheto’s exposition, commentaries on the questions of Book I and II of the *Ordinatio* omitted by Licheto, and in Book III from question 26 to the end. He also completed for the same edition the commentary that A. Hickey had left unfinished due to his death. Among his works, which generally interpret and defend Scotist thought, the following are notable: *Philosophiae cursus integer* (Rome 1643), to which he added, after the criticisms of Mastrius, an *Appendix apologetica* (ibid. 1645); *Cursus theologicus ad mentem Scoti* (Paris 1652); *Scotus Hiberniae restitutus* (ibid. 1660), in which he argues for Scotus’s Irish origin; *Commentarii theologici in quatuor libros Sententiarum* (ibid. 1661), considered the finest Scotist production of the 17th century. His involvement in the political-religious struggles of the time is reflected in such works as: *Richardii Bellingi vindiciae aversae* (ibid. 1653); *Iudicium doctrinae ss. Augustini et Thomae* (ibid. 1657); *Deplorabilis populi hibernici pro religione, rege et libertate status* (ibid. 1651).
