Gregory of Valencia (Spanish: Gregorio de Valencia; c. 1550 – 25 April 1603) was a Spanish Jesuit theologian, humanist, and scholar who served as a professor of theology at the University of Ingolstadt.
Life
Gregory of Valencia was born in Medina del Campo, Spain, around March 1549–1550. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Salamanca, where he entered the Jesuit novitiate on 25 November 1565. He studied theology at Salamanca (1566–1568) and then at Valladolid (1568–1571). In 1571, he was called by Saint Francis Borgia, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, to teach philosophy in Rome, where he was ordained a priest. He returned to Salamanca to complete his studies in 1572.
He was appointed professor at the University of Dillingen (1573–1574) and then at the University of Ingolstadt (1575–1597), where he taught scholastic theology for approximately seventeen years. During his tenure at Ingolstadt, he also served as rector of studies for fifteen years. In 1598, at the request of Pope Clement VIII, he was summoned to Rome to teach scholastic theology and to serve as director of the Jesuit College. He also held the position of prefect of studies at the Collegio Romano.
Broken in health from overwork, he died at Naples on 25 April 1603. Pope Clement VIII honored him with the title Doctor doctorum ("Doctor of Doctors").
Works
Gregory's magnum opus was the Commentariorum theologicorum tomi quatuor (Four Volumes of Theological Commentaries, 1591–1597), a comprehensive work covering the whole field of scholastic theology, structured as a commentary on the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. The work was republished in multiple editions (Ingolstadt, Venice, Lyons) and was among the first comprehensive theological works produced by the Jesuits.
His other major doctrinal treatises include:
- Analysis fidei Catholicae (1585) — a methodical demonstration that the true Christian faith is founded solely in the Roman Church.
- Libri quinque de Trinitate (1586)
- De reali Christi praesentia in eucharistia... libri tres (1587)
- De rebus fidei hoc tempore controversis libri (1591) — a collected volume of his polemical writings.
He also authored numerous polemical pamphlets, many directed against Lutheran theologians such as Jakob Heerbrand of Tübingen, defending Catholic doctrines including the veneration of saints and the Sacrifice of the Mass.
Theological Significance
Gregory's work is characterized by a renewed Scholasticism in which natural reason is employed to deepen preexisting theological sources. His theses on papal infallibility are noted for having foreshadowed the dogmatic definition of the First Vatican Council (1870). He asserted that the Roman Pontiff possesses the authority to define matters of faith and that such definitions are binding on all the faithful by divine precept.
In 1600, he was selected to defend the doctrine of Luis de Molina on grace and free will before Pope Clement VIII and the College of Cardinals, in the context of the Congregatio de Auxiliis debates. He participated in several public disputations against Dominican theologians, including Fathers Didacus Alvarez and Tomas de Lemos, before his failing health forced him to withdraw.
Gregory also played a notable role in the theological and economic debates of his time concerning the morality of interest and the so-called "five percent contract" (contractus trinus), advising Duke William of Bavaria and contributing to a commission under Pope Gregory XIII.
