SALMERÓN, ALFONSO. - Jesuit, exegete, b. at Toledo on 8 Sept. 1515, d. at Naples on 13 Feb. 1585.
While studying theology in Paris, he joined the first companions of St. Ignatius, with whom he made his vows at Montmartre on 15 Aug. 1534. Ordained priest in Venice (1537), he preached with success in various cities of Italy; in 1546 he was with Lainez at the Council of Trent, as theologian of the Pope; in 1549 he received his doctorate in theology at Bologna; then he preached at Ingolstadt on St. Paul's letter to the Romans (1549-50); he returned to the Council (1551); he founded and directed the College of Naples (1551-55); he accompanied the nuncio Lippomani to the Diet of Augsburg and to Poland and Cardinal Caraffa to Belgium (1555-58); he 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 the composition of his works.
The principal one consists of the 16 vols. of the Commentaries on Holy Scripture, where he not only explains the biblical passages, but treats, on occasion, the dogmatic, moral and ecclesiastical-law subjects connected with them: vols. I-XI, in evangelicam historiam (Madrid 1597-1601, Cologne 1602-1604); XII, in Acta Apostolorum (ibid. 1604); XIII-XV, in omnes epistolas b. Pauli (ibid. 1604); XVI, in epistolas canonicas et in Apocalypsim (ibid. 1604). Other works: Sermones in parabolas evangelicas (Antwerp 1601); the Epistolae were printed in Monumenta hist. S. I., 2 vols., Madrid 1906-1907; the treatise on justification according to the letter to the Romans, in Concilium Tridentinum: Diariorum, Actorum, etc., XII, edited by V. Schweitzer (Freiburg im Br. 1929), pp. 727-36. Most of his other works remain unpublished: sermons, controversies, etc.