MOLINA
436
MOLINA
a tutor in Bologna. In his loisuro tinip ho dovotcd
himself especially to the study of the natural sciences,
although his chief distinction lies in having become
the most prominent historian and geographer of his
native American home. Molina published his works
in Italian; they all appeared at Bologna, the first
one anonymously. He treats of Chile in: (1) "Com-
pendio della storia gcografica, naturalc e civile del
regno del Chile" (177()), Svo, 245 pp., 1 map, 10
tables; (2) '"Saggio suUa storia naturale del Chile"
(17S2), Svo, 3G8 pp., 1 map, 2nd enlarged edition
(1810), 4to; (3) "Saggio della storia civile del Chile"
(1787), Svo, 333 pp., 2nd enlarged edition (1810),
4to, 30G pp. These three works have been tran.s-
lated into German (Leipzig. 17S(H)1); I'rench (Paris);
Spanish (2 vols.. Madrid. ITSS !l.')i. the most complete
edition; Engli.sh (Middlctuwii. Conn., ISOS; London,
1809, 1825). The original and several of the tran.s-
lations contain Molina's portrait. As an expression
of her gratitude Chile named the town of Molina
after him. If these works evidence his learning as
a student of natural history, this is equally tru(^ of his
"Memorie di sloria naturale lette in Bologna"
(Bologna. 1821, Svo, 2 vols, with 16 essays),
which Molina as a member laid before the InstUuto
Po)iliJicii>. .-Another work, "Analogia de los tres
reinos de la naturalezza", is of considerable interest,
as it was written by Molina in Spanish, and becau.se it
was not published, although Mezzofanti procured the
impritnatur in 1820. Molina was highly esteemed
by the botanists; Schrank in 1789 named after him a
genus of the GramineiT, well known throughout
Europe, Molinia; and Jussieu in the same year classi-
fied the genus Molmaa; other generic names (as Mo-
lina) are no longer used.
SoMMERvOGEL, BiUioth. lic la Comp. de Jesus, V C1894); Sac- c.iHDO, La Botanica in Italia (Venice, 1895, 1901).
Joseph Rompel.
Molina, Lris de, one of the most learned and re- nowned theologians of the Society of Jesus, b. of noble parentage at Cuenca, New Castile, Spain, in 1535; d. at Madrid, 12 October, 1600. At the age of eighteen, he entered the Society of Jesus at Alealii, and, on finishing his novitiate, was sent to take up his philosophical and theological studies at Coimbra in Portugal. So successful was he in his studies that, at the close of his course, he was installed as professor of philosophy at Coimbra, and promoted a few years later to the chair of theology at the flourishing LTniver- sity of Evora. For twenty years, marked by untiring labour and devotion, he expounded with great success the "Summa" of St. Thomas Aquinas to eager stu- dents. In 1590 he retired to his native city of Cuenca to devote himself exclusively to writing and preparing for print the results of his long continued studies. Two years later, however, the Society of Jesus opened a special school for the science of moral philosophy at Madrid, and the renowned profe.ssor was called from his solitude and appointed to the newly established chair. Here death overtook him before he had held his new ptxst for half a year. By a strange coincidence on the same day (12 Oct., 1600) the "Congregatio de auxiliis", which had been insti- tuted at Rome to investigate Molina's new system of grace, after a second examination of his "Concordia", reported adversely on its contents to Clement VIII. Molina was not only a tireless student, but also a profound and original thinker. To him we are in- debted for important contributions in speculative, dogmatic and moral theology as well as in jurispru- dence. The originality of his mind is shown quite as much by his novel treatment of the old scholastic subjects as by his labours along new lines of theologi- cal inquirj'.
Molina's chief contribution to the science of theol- ogy is the "Concordia", on which he spent thirty years of the most assiduous labour. The publication
of this work was facilitated by the valuable assistance
of Cardinal Albert, Crand Inquisitor of Portugal and
brother of Kmpemr Rudolf II. The full title of the
now famous work reads: "Concordia liberi :irbitrii cum
gratiir donis, dixiiia ])ra'seieiitia, provident ia, pra'des-
tinafione ct reprobat ione " (Lisbon, 1.588). As the
title indicates, the work is primarily concerned with
the dillieult problem of reconciling grace and free will.
In view of its purpo.sc and prineii)id eoiileiils, the book
may also be regarded as a scientilie \iiidie:M ion of the
Trident iiie doctfine on the ixTruaiieiiee of man's free
will under the influence of efficacious grace (Sess. VI,
cap. v-vi; can., iv-v). It is also the first attempt to
offer a strictly logical explanation of the great prob-
lems of grace and free will, foreknowledge and provi-
dence, and predestination to glory or reprobation,
upon .an entirely new basis, while meeting fairly all
possible objections. This new basis, on which the
entire Molinistic system rests, is the Divine scienlia
ninliii. To make clear its intrinsic connexion with
the traditional teachings, the work takes the form of
a commentary upon .several portions of the "Summa"
of St. Thomas (I, Q. xiv, a. 13; Q. xix, a. 16; QQ. .x.xii-
iii). Thus Molina is the first Jesuit to write a com-
mentary upon the "Summa". As to style, the work
has little to recommend it. The Latinity is heavy,
the sentences are long and involved, and the prolix
exposition and frequent repetition of the same ideas
are fatiguing; in short, the "Concordia" is neither
easy nor agreeable reading. Even though much of the
obscurity of the book may be attributed to the subject-
matter itself, it may be safely said that the dispute
concerning Molina's doctrine would never have at-
tained such violence and bitterness, had the style been
more simple and the expressions less ambiguous.
And yet Molina was of opinion that the older heresies
concerning grace would never have arisen or would
have soon passed away, if the Catholic doctrine of
grace had before been treated according to the princi-
ples which he followed for the first time in his "Con-
cordia" and with the minuteness and accuracy which
characterized that work. But he was greatly mis-
taken. For not only was his doctrine powerless to
check the teachings of Baius, which began to spread
soon after the publication of his work, and to prevent
the rise of Jansenism, which sprang from early Prot-
estant ideas, but it was itself the cause of that his-
toric controversy which has raged for centuries be-
tween Thomists and Molinists, and which has not
wholly subsided even to this day. Thus, the "Con-
cordia" became a bone of contention in the schools, and
brought on a deplorable discord among the theologians,
especially those of the Dominican and Jesuit orders.
The "Concordia" had scarcely left the press, and
had not yet appeared on the market, when there arose
against it a violent opposition. Some theologians,
having got a knowledge of its contents, endeavoured
by every means in their power to prevent its publica-
tion. Slolina himself withheld the edition for a year.
In 1589 he placed it on the market together with a
defence of it, which he had in the meantime prepared
and which was to answer the chief objections made
against his work even before it appeared. The de-
fence was published separately under the title: "Ap-
pendix ad Concordiam, continens responsiones ad tres
objectiones et satisfactiones ad 17 animadversiones"
(Lisbon, 1589). This precaution, however, was of
little avail, and the controversy grew apace. Not
only his princijial adversaries among the Dominicans,
Bafiez and de Lemos, but even his own brothers in
religion, Ilenriquez and Mariana, opposed his doc-
trine most bitterly. Soon the whole of Spain rang
with the clamour of this controversy, and Molina
was even denounced to the Spanish Inquisition.
When the dispute was growing too bitter, Rome inter-
vened and took the matter into its own hands. In
1594 Clement VIII imposed silence upon the contend-
