Aspilcueta, Martin
Aspilcueta, Martin
(Also AZPILCOETA.)
Generally known as Navarrus, or Doctor Navarrus, a famous Spanish canonist and moral theologian; b. in the Kingdom of Navarre, 13 December, 1491; d. at Rome, 1 June, 1586. He was a relative of St. Francis Xavier, studied at Alcalá and in France, and became professor of canon law at Toulouse and Cahors. Later, he returned to Spain and occupied the same chair for fourteen years at Salamanca, and for seven years at Coimbra in Portugal. At the age of eighty he went to Rome to defend his friend Bartolomeo Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo, accused before the Tribunal of the Inquisition. Though he failed to exculpate the Archbishop, Aspilcueta was highly honoured at Rome by several popes, and was looked on as an oracle of learning and prudence. His humility, disinterestedness, and charity were proverbial. He reached the patriarchal age of 95, and is buried at Rome in the national Church of San Antonio de’ Portoghesi. Among other lives of Aspilcueta there is one by his nephew, prefixed to the Roman edition of his works. His “Manuale sive Enchiridion Confessariorum et Pnitentium” (Rome, 1568) originally written in Spanish, was long a classical text in the schools and in ecclesiastical practice. In his work on the revenues of benefices, first published in Spanish (Salamanca, 1566), translated into Latin (1568), and dedicated to Philip II and St. Pius V, he maintained that beneficed clergymen were free to expend the fruits of their benefices only for their own necessary support and that of the poor. He wrote numerous other works, e.g. on the Breviary, the regulars, ecclesiastical property, the jubilee year, etc. A complete edition of his works was printed at Rome in 1590 (3 vols. fol.); also at Lyons, 1590; Venice, 1602; and Cologne, 1615 (2 vols. fol.). A compendium of his writings was made by J. Dastellanus (Venice, 1598).
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GIRAUD, Bibli. Sacr., II 334-336 (gives list of his writings); HURTER, Nomenclator, (1892), I, 124-127.
THOMAS J. SHAHAN Transcribed by W.S. French, Jr.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Aspilcueta, Martin
(styled the Doctor of Navarre), was born in that country, at Varasayn, Dec. 13, 1493. He studied in his youth among the Regular Canons of Roncesvalles; thence he proceeded to Alcala, and lastly to France. When his education was finished, he returned to Spain and became first professor of canon law at Salamanca, but was induced afterwards to accept an office in the new university of Coimbra, Portugal, which John III had just founded. He returned subsequently to Spain, and at eighty years of age went to Rome to defend his friend, Bartholomew Caranza, archbishop of Toledo. At Rome he was received with the most unusual honors, and was held in the highest esteem by the popes Pius V, Gregory XIII, and Sixtus V. One author says that he was not only the oracle of Rome, but of the whole Christian world (.Tanus N. Erythrius).. He said mass daily, lived frugally, and carefully observed all the ordinances of the Church. He died at Rome, June 21, 1586. His Life was written by Simon Magnus, canon of St. Peter’s at Liege, and is inserted in his Manual. Hortinus also prefixed a Life of this eminent doctor to the edition of his works (Rome, 1590, by his nephew Michael). All the works of this writer relate to the moral or canon law; they were collected and printed (Rome, 1590; Lyons, 1597; Venice, i602, 5 vols.; Cologne, 1615, 5 vols. itn 2). The latter editions contain his Consilia, which is not found in the Roman edition. See Antonio, Bibl. Hisp. ii, 74 sq.