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[German Version] (de Jesús; de Ágreda; Apr 2, 1602, Ágreda [Soria] – May 24, 1665, Ágreda). With her mother and sister, she became a nun in her parents' home which she had turned into a convent with strict enclosure of Franciscan Conceptionists; from 1627, she was its abbess. She became known for her influence on the Spanish king Philip IV, who for 22 years (from 1643) conducted a lively correspondence with her (614 letters are extant), covering private and national problems. Her contested main work Mistica Ciudad de Dios, posthumously published in 1670, in which Mary describes her…

[German Version] (Juan de la Cruz; 1542, Fontiveros – Dec 14, 1591, Úbeda) is a classic author in Spanish literature and mysticism and a reformer of the Carmelite order. John studied in Salamanca (1564–1568). After an encounter with Teresa of Ávila in 1567, he oriented his life totally to the service of her reform efforts, which he extended to the male monasteries in 1568. John's major work consists of four brief poem cycles and the extensive explanations com-¶ posed subsequently in prose: Subida al Monte Carmelo ( Ascent to Mount Carmel), Noche oscura ( Dark Night), Cántico espiritual ( Spir…

[German Version] (c. 1589, Valladolid – Jul 4, 1669, Valladolid), a Jesuit from 1605, was a moral theologian and ascetic author. He was active as preacher and father-confessor in Valladolid, Burgos, and Salamanca. In addition to poems and religious plays, he wrote works of moral theology and casuistry that enjoyed wide circulation and made him a major proponent of moral theology in the Baroque period. The Jansenists (Jansenism), especially B. Pascal ( Lettres provinciales; ET: The Provincial Letters, 1967), cited many passages from these writings …

[German Version] (Bañes) (Feb 29, 1528, Valladolid – Oct 21, 1604, Medina del Campo) was a Spanish theologian of Basque extraction. He entered the Dominican order in 1547, studied theology in Salamanca from 1548 to 1552 under D. de Soto and M. Cano, and taught in various educational institutions belonging to his order from 1552 to 1577. …

[German Version] (Feb 8, 1554, Valladolid – Jun 9, 1633, Valladolid) was a mystical author and the founder of a women's order (Recoletas de Santa Brígida, 1582). Permanently bedridden after 1603 following an accident, Escobar dictated her life story to her father-confessors, the Jesuits Luis de la Puente and Andrés del Pinto. The two volumes of the Vida maravillosa de la venerable virgen Doña Marina de Escobar first appeared in 1665–1673 in Madrid under the authorship of these two men, who emphasized in the foreword that …

[German Version] (Nov 25, 1583, Madrid – Aug 10, 1660, Rome), theologian, Jesuit (1603), and cardinal (1643). After 1616 Lugo taught philosophy at various Spanish colleges; from 1621 to 1642, he was professor of theology at the Jesuit College in Rome. After 1642 he served as adviser to several Roman congregations and oversaw the publication of his extensive writings, which dealt more with resolving internal Scholastic controversies, especially in moral theology (but also analysis fidei, the history of dogma, and doctrine of the eucharistic sacrifice), than with fundam…

[German Version] (Louis of Granada, Luís de Sarria; 1504, Granada – Dec 31, 1588, Lisbon), Spanish Dominican, renowned preacher and writer. After studying at Valladolid, he served 11 years as a preacher at the cathedral in Córdoba. In 1550 he was transferred to Portugal, where he remained until his death. Equipped with an excellent Humanistic and theological education, Luís left an extensive body of works, which found a worldwide audience. His writings – especially his imaginative, emotional descr…