power and activity which distinguished the first half of this period. As the Religious Orders were still the chief teachers of Theology, we may group the theologians of the period under the schools belonging to the three great Orders.
(a) The strict Thomist school was naturally represented by the Dominicans. At their head stand the two Spaniards, Dominic Bannez (d. 1604) and Bartholomew Medina (d. 1581), both worthy disciples of Dominic Soto and Melchior Canus, and remarkable for their happy combination of positive and speculative elements. Bannez wrote only on the Prima and Secunda Secundæ, whereas Medina wrote only on the Prima Secundæ and Pars tertia. Their works consequently complete each other, and together form a single work which may be considered as the classical model of Thomist theology. Bannez’s doctrine of grace was defended by Didacus Alvarez, Thomas Lemos (Panoplia Divinæ Gratiæ), and Peter Ledesma (d. 1616). Gonet (Clypeus Theologiæ Thomisticæ), Goudin, and the Venetian Xantes Marialles ably expounded and defended the teaching of St. Thomas. The Carmelites reformed by St. Theresa proved powerful allies of the Dominicans. Their celebrated Cursus Salmanticensis in Summam S. Thomæ (15 vols. folio), is the vastest and most complete work of the Thomist school.
Among other theologians whose opinions were more or less Thomist may be mentioned the Benedictine Alphonsus Curiel (d. 1609), the Cistercian Peter de Lorca (d. 1606), the Augustinians Basil Pontius and Augustine Gibbon, an Irishman who taught in Spain and in Germany (Speculum Theologicum); and Louis de Montesinos, professor at Alcala (d. 1623). Among the universities, Louvain was especially distinguished for its strict Thomism. The Commentary on the Sentences, by William Estius, is remarkable for clearness, solidity, and patristic learning. The Commentaries on the Summa, by John Malderus (d. 1645), John Wiggers (d. 1639), and Francis Sylvius (dean of Douai, d. 1649), are written with moderation and taste. The three most important scholastic theologians of the Sorbonne were less Thomistic, and approached more to the Jesuit school:
