really the leader of the Jesuit school, but was more distinguished as a moral theologian; Jos. Martinez de Ripalda (d. 1648), famous for his work against Baius (Michael Bay), and for his twelve books De Ente Supernaturali, in which the whole doctrine of the supernatural was for the first time systematically handled; Cardinal John De Lugo (d. 1660), better known as a moral theologian, is remarkable for critical keenness rather than for positive knowledge—his most important dogmatic work is the often-quoted treatise De Fide Divina. The Opus Theologicum of Sylvester Maurus, the well-known commentator on Aristotle, is distinguished by simplicity, calmness, and clearness, and by the absence of the subtleties so common in his day.
In Italy: Albertini, Fasoli, and Cardinal Pallavicini (d. 1667).
In France: Maratius, Martinon, and the keen and refined Claude Tiphanus (d. 1641), author of a number of treatises (De Hypostasi, De Ordine, De Creaturis Spiritualibus) in which the nicest points of theology are investigated.
In Belgium: Leonard Lessius (d. 1623), a pious, thoughtful, and elegant theologian, who wrote De Perfectionibus Moribusque Divinis, De Summo Bono, De Gratia Efficaci, and a commentary on the third part of the Summa; Ægidius Coninck, John Præpositus, and Martin Becanus.
Germany at this time had only one great native scholastic theologian, Adam Tanner (d. 1632). His Theologia Scholastica (in 4 vols. folio) is a work of the first rank, and completes in many points the labours of his master, Gregory of Valentia. During this period, however, and far into the eighteenth century, German theologians directed their attention chiefly to the practical branches of theology, such as controversy, moral theology, and canon law, and in these acquired an acknowledged superiority. It is sufficient to mention Laymann (d. 1625), Lacroix (d. 1714), Sporer (d. 1714), and Schmalzgrueber (d. 1735).
4. We omit writers who treat of the higher stages of the spiritual life, such as St. Theresa and St. John of the Cross, and mention only those who deal with dogmas as subjects of meditation, or who introduce dogmatic truths into their ascetical writings. To this period belong the
