WADDING
522
WADDING
children and was baptized on the feast of St. Luke.
Many members of his family distinguished them-
selves in their various careers. His brother Ambrose,
the Jesuit, taught philosophy with applause at DiUin-
gen, Bavaria, where he died in the flower of his age.
His cousins Richard Wadding, the Augustinian, and
Peter and Michael Wadding, .Jesuits, shed lustre on
their respective orders. He was brought up piously by
his excellent par-
ents, who, Harold
tells us, required
all their chUdren,
boys and girls,
when able to read,
to recite daily the
Little Office of the
Blessed Virgin,
and, at stated
times, the Peniten-
tial Psalms with
the Utanies and
orations, the Office
of the Dead, and
other prayers con-
tained in the so-
called minor Bre-
viary of Pius V,
then much in use
among CathoUcs
in Ireland. At the
age of thirteen he
had already ac-
quired a good
knowledge of the Classics, and had learned to write
Latin, prose and verse, with facihty. The excellence
of his early classic training shows out through all his
writings. He lost both parents at the age of fourteen,
but his brother Matthew took charge of his education
and put him to study philosophy. He read logic and
part of physics in Ireland, and then entered the Irish
seminary at Lisbon, prosecuting his studies under the
Jesuits. After six months he left the seminary to
enter the noviciate of the Friars Minor in the Convent
of the Immaculate Conception at Matozinhos, near
Oporto. Having made solemn profession and received
minor orders in 1605, his superiors sent him to Leyria,
the house of studies, to speciahze in Scotistic philoso-
phy for two years. Richard Synott, of Wexford,
companion of Wadding's noviciate and studies, and
afterwards Guardian of S. Isidore's, Rome, died a
martyr in Ireland at the hands of the soldiers of
Cromwell. Wadding read theology at Lisbon, and
then for three years at Coimbra, hearing in this
latter place Didacus Limadensis, O.F.M., at the
College of S. Bonaventure, and Suarez and jEgidius
a Prajsentatione, O.S.A., at the university. The
Benedictine monk Leo a S. Thoma bears witness to
the great talents he displayed (see Harold, "Vita",
c. v.). Ordained priest in 1613 and commissioned to
preach, he showed himself a perfect master not only
of rhetorical art but of the Portuguese and Castilian
languages. He commenced in 1613 to draw up a
sylva or commonplace-book of quotations from the
Scriptures, the Fathers, the hves of the saints, etc.,
which is still preserved in two large volumes of MS.
in the archives of the order at Merchant's Quay,
DubUn. After a brilhant academic display at Lisbon
during a provincial chapter, Antony a Trejo, the
vicar-general of the order, sent him to Salamanca for
fuller opportunities. Here he mastered Hebrew,
composed his work on the origin and excellence of
that tongue, and was assigned the chair of theology
in the College of St. Francis.
II. Emb.\ssy to Rome. — He filled the office of professor till 161S, when, though only in his thirtieth year, he was chosen by Philip III for the office of theologian to the embassy which Phihp was then
sending to Paul V to promote the doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception. Antony a Trejo, Bishop of
Cartagena, who, as vicar-general of the order, had
been Wadding's patron and admirer, was the legate-
extraordinary appointed for the purpose. Leaving
the Court of the Cathohc King on 1 Oct., 1618, the
embassy reached Rome on 17 Dec. In search of mate-
rials for the work entrusted to him, as well as for his
other studies. Wadding spent whole days in the
libraries of Rome, visiting also those of Naples,
Assisi, Perugia, and other cities. The composition
of the more important vota of the legate, the prepara-
tion of the pleadings before the pope, and the solution
of the theological difficulties devolved in great mea-
sure on him. He has given us the history of the
embassy in his "Acta legationis", a succinct and
objective statement of the proceedings and of the
theological issues demanding solution. At this time
we find him in close correspondence with the exiled
Archbishop of Tuam, Florence Conry, to whom he
sent a MS. copy of his "Acta" to Louvain. In May,
1620, the legate returned to his diocese in Spain, but
Wadding was ordered to remain in Rome to assist
the new charge d'affaires. While the commission
lasted he was its accredited theological ad\-iser.
Phihp IV, in a gracious letter, thanked him profusely
for his services in this connexion. The three op^tscula
on the redemption, baptism, and death of the Blessed
Virgin (1655 and 1656), were written as contributions
to the question before the commission.
III. Literary Activity. — But Wadding's activity was not confined to the work of the embassy. His predominating idea for a long time had been to ^'indi- cate the name of liis order by rescuing from obhvion the memory of the men who had rendered it illustrious in everj' age. The publication of their writings and the recording of their deeds he considered the best answer to those who charged the order and its founder with being professionally opposed to learning. He found an ardent and effective supporter in the general for the time being, Benignus a Genoa, who in 1619 by encychcal letters to the whole order ordained that suitable men should be told off in each pro\dnce to transcribe and forward to Rome all documents bearing on the history of the order. The materials thus accumulated were handed over to Wadding. The most distinguished of the collaborators referred to were Bartholomew Cimarelli and Jacobus Polius, the former working in the archives and libraries of northern and central Italy, the latter in those of Ger- many.
As a first instalment Wadding published in 1623 at Antwerp a complete and annotated edition of the "Writings of St. Francis", which he dedicated to the brothers Trejo, the cardinal and legate. This work was enough to show that St. Francis himself was above all suspicion of enmity to learning. \Miile the edition of the "Writings of St. Francis" was in course of preparation, Marius a Calasio, a learned Franciscan, died in Rome, leaving unpublished four large tomes of a Hebrew concordance, besides a Hebrew grammar and dictionary. Wadding under- took the pubhcation, being able, through the munifi- cence of Paul V, to establi.sh for the purpose a print- ing-press with Hebrew type at the Convent of Ara Cceh. To this work, which was considered at the time a valuable contribution to Bibhcal knowledge, he prefixed his own essay "De hebraicx linguae origine, pra-stantia et utilitate ad ss. litterarum interpretes", which he had composed at Salamanca. About the same time he undertook the publication of the works of .\ngelo del Paz, a friar of great learning who died in the odour of sanctity some twenty years before in the convent of Montorio. The first tome appeared in 162:?, being Angelo's commentaries on the Gospel of St. Mark; the commentaries on the Gospel of St. Luke followed in lt)25 and 1628, with
