ALFONSO SALMERON. - Jesuit, exegete, b. at Toledo on 8 Sept. 1515, d. at Naples on 13 Feb. 1585.
While studying theology in Paris he was among the first companions of St Ignatius, with whom he made his vows at Montmartre on 15 Aug. 1534. Ordained priest at Venice (1537), he preached with success in various Italian cities; in 1546 he was at the Council of Trent with Laínez as theologian of the Pope; in 1549 he took his doctorate in theology at Bologna; then he preached at Ingolstadt on St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (1549–50); he returned to the Council again (1551); founded and directed the College at Naples (1551–53); accompanied the nuncio Lippomano to the Diet of Augsburg and to Poland and Cardinal Caraffa to the Low Countries (1555–58); was Provincial at Naples (1558–76), meanwhile taking part for the third time in the Council. From 1576 until his death he devoted himself to composing his works.
His principal work consists of 16 volumes of Commentaries on Holy Scripture, in which he not only explains the biblical passages but also treats, as occasion arises, the dogmatic, moral and canon-law topics connected with them: vols. I–XI on the Gospel narrative (Madrid 1597–1601, Cologne 1602–1604); vol. XII on the Acts of the Apostles (ibid. 1604); vols. XIII–XV on all the Epistles of St Paul (ibid. 1604); vol. XVI on the canonical Epistles and the Apocalypse (ibid. 1604). Other works: Sermons on the Gospel Parables (Antwerp 1601); the Epistles were printed in Monumenta hist. S. I., 2 vols., Madrid 1906–1907; the treatise on justification according to the Epistle to the Romans, in Concilium Tridentinum; Diaries, Acts, etc., XII, ed. V. Schweitzer (Freiburg in Br. 1929), pp. 727–