Rodríguez, Alonso

RODRÍGUEZ, ALONSO. - Jesuit, writer on asceticism, b. in Valladolid ca. 15 April 1538, d. in Seville 21 February 1616.

Having entered the Order in 1557, he taught moral theology for several years at the College of Monterrey, where he was also rector; then he spent 30 years in the office of master of novices and rector of the novitiate at Montilla.

The work that made his fame so widespread down to our own day is Ejercicio de perfección y virtudes cristianas (3 vols., Seville 1609), republished countless times, translated into many languages (the first Italian version is from 1617; adapted to the CIC in 1910) and lately also harmonized with the CIC. The diffusion of the work is comparable only to that of the Imitation of Christ, of L. Scupoli's Combattimento spirituale, of St. Francis de Sales's Philothea. Pius XI in his apostolic letter to the superiors general of religious Institutes, of 19 March 1924 (AAS, 16 [1924], p. 142), puts him as the third author to be read by novices, after St. Bernard and St. Bonaventure. The R., thus joining in, in this, the universal esteem that the R. has enjoyed on the part also of many saints and of all the founders of religious institutes.

The distinctive character of the work is the polish of its style, the clarity and spontaneity of its conversation, the solidity with which the author builds the edifice of perfection on the ground of practical life, presenting the virtues as in action, without dramatic artifices, but with the simple observation of what happens in life. Some defects are not lacking, namely some exaggeration, some inexact application of scriptural texts, several examples that do not stand up to profound historical criticism.

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