VÁZQUEZ (err. Vásquez), GABRIEL. - Jesuit theologian among the foremost of the 16th century, alongside Suárez, b. at Villaescuela del Haro, near Belmonte del Tajo (whence the appellation "Bellemontanus") in 1549, d. at Alcalá on 30 Sept. 1604.
Having entered the Order in 1569, as soon as he had finished his studies he taught moral theology at Ocaña (1575-77), scholastic theology at Madrid (1577-79), Alcalá (1580-85), and in Rome at the Collegio Romano (1585-91), succeeding Suárez. Not getting along well with the character of the Italians, he returned in 1591 to Alcalá, where he devoted himself to his work until 1593, when he again succeeded Suárez, who had been transferred to Salamanca, remaining there until his death, which came upon him suddenly.
He made his debut with the De cultu adorationis (Alcalá 1594), later incorporated into the following work, the one in which he left his strong imprint and which won him universal fame: Commentarii et disputationes in 1am partem s. Thomae (2 vols., ibid. 1598); in 2am-2ae (2 vols., ibid. 1599-1605); in 3am (4 vols., ibid. 1609-15), followed by Opuscula moralia (ibid. 1617), which contain certain treatises he had prepared on the 2a-2ae. As appears from the dates, V. saw only the first three volumes printed; all the others were published posthumously from manuscripts already completed, without being revised. His philosophical treatises were then extracted from the Commentarii and gathered in the Metaphysicae disputationes ex variis locis suorum operum, edited by Murcia de la Llama (Madrid 1617), which, alongside those of Suárez, are cited, almost as canonical doctrine, by the Protestant philosophers of the 17th century.
Contemporaries called V. the "Spanish Augustine," not only for his profound knowledge of the holy Doctor, but also for his biblical, patristic and conciliar erudition. Concise, clear, brilliant, of extraordinary readiness of mind and liveliness of speech, he often drew the applause of his students; but, if he surpasses Suárez in method and acuteness, he remains inferior to him in the depth and extent of his doctrine and in the moderation of his judgments. Indeed, characteristic of V. are the boldness of certain recondite and subtle assertions, which not infrequently led him to unjust and daring propositions, and the fault of lingering over secondary questions of no utility. Much has also been said of his disagreements and discussions with Suárez, which, if they could lend liveliness to the school, contributed little or nothing to the progress of theological science; whoever, however, prunes the question of the many exaggerations, the fruit of fantasy, will find that everything at bottom reduces to a certain intolerance of each other's ideas, even if at the time expressed by V. in a manner too heated and impetuous. In the question of Grace he upheld strict Molinism (v.) against Bellarmine and Suárez; among the moral systems he adheres to probabilism, but with a certain discretion.
Many other writings of V., some of them valuable, remain unpublished; others appeared posthumously, among them: Paraphrasis et compendiaria explicatio ad nonnullas Pauli epistolas (Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, Hebrews [Madrid 1612]).