VALDÉS, JUAN de. – Spanish man of letters and writer, son of a Ferdinando and brother of Alfonso (d. in 1532), who was imperial secretary and author of two dialogues; b. at Cuenca toward the end of the fifteenth century, d. at Naples in early Aug. 1541.
He served at the courts of several Spanish nobles, studied law and sacred sciences, and was influenced on the one hand by Erasmus of Rotterdam and on the other by the alumbrados. In 1529 his Dialogo de doctrina christiana was published anonymously; although it did not openly offend against orthodoxy, it provoked proceedings against the author. He is found in Rome around 1530 as camerarius to Clement VII and at the same time as imperial secretary. “Archivist” of Naples in Dec. 1532, he left Rome only after the death of Clement VII and took up permanent residence in Naples in 1535, where, although he had relinquished the office of archivist, he held offices and received commissions from the Spanish government and maintained relations with the ministers of Charles V. Here, in 1535–36, he composed the Dialogo de la lengua, an outstanding document for the history of the Spanish language and literature. Of particular importance in the religious life of the period was the influence he exercised over a group of intellectuals, beginning with Giulia Gonzaga, widow of Vespasiano Colonna. For her he composed the dialogue Alfabeto cristiano, preserved for us in the Italian translation by Marco Antonio Magno, as well as commentaries on the letters to the Corinthians and the Romans and on the Gospel of St. Matthew, and a translation and commentary on the Psalms. We also have from him Le couto e dieci divine considerazioni... delle cose utili, più necessarie e più perfette della christiana professione, translated into other languages as well; a catechism, Lacte spirituale, con il quale si debbono nutrire et allevare i figliuoli dei christiani, and a few other minor treatises, all works printed after his death. Besides other noblewomen, ecclesiastics gathered around V., TONCHINO (v.), who drew inspiration from him for his sermons, Vermigli (v.), Pietro Antonio di Capua, archbishop of Otranto, Carnesecchi, and later Marco Antonio Flaminio, Jacopo Bonfadio, and others. Without denying the usefulness of good works, the cornerstone of his teaching was justification by faith alone through the application of Christ’s merits, without the need for the Sacrament of Penance for the remission of sins; and, while outwardly professing Catholicism, he came to renounce the duty of belonging to the Church and to doubt Purgatory. At bottom, it was a Lutheranism mild in the form it assumed, which also found success outside Naples because of a certain unction and greater interior piety in comparison with the decline of ecclesiastical morals. V. Church. Like Carnesecchi, he had been a bitter enemy of the Farnese family.