RIPALDA, JUAN MARTÍNEZ. - Jesuit, theologian, b. at Pamplona in 1594, d. at Madrid on 26 April 1648.
He entered the Order in 1609, taught for four years philology and for nineteen years dogmatic theology at Salamanca, and later moral theology at Madrid, where he also addressed numerous questions put to him.
His principal work remains *De ente supernaturali*, which was intended to open the way to several other treatises on theology (I, Bordeaux 1634; II, Lyons 1645; III [against Baius], Cologne 1648; complete new ed.: 3 vols., Paris 1870; 6 vols., ibid. 1871). A posthumous volume IV, dealing with the theological virtues, appeared (Lyons 1652). Ripalda demonstrates in it a strong penetration, a broad and refined analysis of the most abstruse concepts in a field that is already by its nature difficult to access, and reveals himself bold in his judgments and eager to express something new. His characteristic theses are four: the role of habitual grace in sanctification; the possibility of a created substance destined by its very essence to the beatific vision; the elevation to the supernatural order of all morally good agents operating in the world; and the salvation of the infidels through a broad faith. He also published: *Expositio brevis litterae Magistri sententiarum* (Salamanca 1635); *De fide spe et caritate* (Lyons 1652).