CAJETAN
146
CAJETAN
can Order before the age of sixteen. As a student at
Naples, Bologna, and Padua he was the wonder of his
fellow-students and preceptors. As bachelor of
theology (19 March, 1492), and afterwards master of
students, he began to attract attention by his lectures
and writings. Promoted to the chair of metaphysics
at the University of Padua, he made a close study of
the prevailing Humanism and Philosophism. Be-
sides engaging in controversy with the Scotist Trom-
betta, he took a stand against the Averroistic tenden-
cies or teachings of such men as Vemias, Pompanazzi,
and Niphus, directing against them his celebrated
work. "De Ente et Essentia", counted the most
subtle and abstruse of his productions. At a general
chapter of the order (Ferrara, 1494) C'ajetan was
selected to conduct the customary defence of theses in
presence of the assembled dignitaries. He had to
face Pico della Mirandola among others, and such was
his success that the students bore him in triumph on
their shoulders to receive the felicitations of the
master general. He was immediately made master
of sacred theology, and for several years expounded
the "Summa" of St. Thomas, principally at Brescia
and Pavia, to which latter chair he had been called
by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. After two
years he resigned and repaired to Milan, whence in
1500 Cardinal Oliviero C'araffa procured his transfer
to Rome. In 1501 he was made procurator general
of his order and appointed to the chairs of philosophy
and exegesis at the Sapienza. On the death of the
master general, John Cleree, in 1507, C'ajetan was
named vicar-general of the order, and the next year
he was elected to the generalship. With foresight
and ability, he devoted his energies to- the promotion
of religious discipline, emphasizing the study of sacred
science as the chief means of attaining the end of the
order. His encyclical letters and the acts of chapters
promulgated during his term of office bear witness to
his lofty ideals and to his unceasing efforts to realize
them. He was wont to say that he could hardly ex-
cuse from grievous sin a brother Dominican who
failed to devote at least four hours a day to study.
"Let others rejoice in their prerogatives", he once
wrote, " but the work of our Order is at an end unless
sacred doctrine be our commendation." He was
himself a model of diligence, and it was said of him
thai lie could quote almost the entire "Summa " from
memory. About the fourth year of his generalship
Cajetan rendered important service to the Holy See
by appearing before the Pseudo-Council of Pisa
(1511 ). where he denounced the disobedience of the
i ini icipating cardinals and bishops and overwhelmed
them with his arguments. This was the occasion of
his defence of the power and monarchical supremacy
of the pope. It is chiefly to his endeavours that is
ascribed the failure of this schismatical movement,
abetted by Louis XII of France. He was one of the
first to counsel Pope Julius II to convoke a real oecu-
menical council, i.e. the Fifth Lateran. In this coun-
cil Cajetan was deputed by the principal religious
orders to defend their common interests. Under the
same pent ill he was instrumental in granting to Ferdi-
nand of Spain the first Dominican missionaries who
devoted organized effort to the conversion of the
Mat IVeS <>f America.
On 1 July, 1517, Cajetan was created cardinal by Pope Leo X. lie was also appointed Archbishop of Palermo, but opposition oil the part of the Sicilian senate prevented his taking possession and he re- signed 8 Feb., 1518. On the demand ol Charles V, however, he was later made Bishop of ( laeta, but t his
was after he had been sent in lols as \postolic le- gate to Germany, bringing the insignia of the cardi- nalati to Ubert of Brandenburg, and a. sword blessed by the pope to Emperor Maximilian. ( >n this oc- casion he was empowered to confer with the latter and with the King of Denmark on the terms of an
alliance against the Turks. He also represented the
pope at the Diet of Frankfort (1519), and took an
active part in the election of Charles V (1519), thereby
winning that emperor's friendship and gratitude.
While executing these missions, the more serious duty
of meeting Luther, then started on his career of re-
bellion, was assigned to him. Cajetan's theological
learning and humane disposition seemed to fit him for
the task of successfully treating with the proud and
obstinate monk, and Protestants have admitted that
in all his relations with the latter C'ajetan exhibited a
spirit of moderation, that did honour to his lofty char-
acter. But neither pleading, learning, nor concilia-
tory words availed to secure the desired submission.
Luther parleyed and temporized as he had done with
the Holy See itself, and finally showed the insincerity
of his earlier protestations by spurning the pope and
his representative alike. Some have blamed C'ajetan
for his failure to avert Luther's defection, but others
like Hefele and Hergenrother exonerate him. In
1523 he was sent by Adrian VI as legate to King Louis
of Hungary to encourage the Christians in their re-
sistance to the Turks. Recalled in the following year
by Clement VII, he became one of the pope's chief
advisers. During the sack of Rome by the imperialist
army (1527) C'ajetan, like other principal persons, was
seized, and obtained the release of himself and house-
hold only on payment of five thousand Roman crowns
of gold, a sum which he had to borrow and which he
later made up by the strictest economy in the affairs
of his diocese. He was one of the nineteen cardinals
who, in a solemn consistory held by Clement VII
(23 March, 1534), pronounced definitively for the
validity of the marriage of Henry VIII and Catharine
of Aragon. This was about the last public act of his
life, for he died the same year and was buried, as he
had requested, in an humble tomb in the vestibule of
the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It was the
common opinion of his contemporaries that had he
lived, he would have succeeded Clement VII on the
papal throne. Much interest attaches to a portrait
of Cajetan, the only one known, recently discovered
by Pere Berthier, 6. P. in a collection of notables of
the Reformation, owned by Count Krasinski of War-
saw, Poland (see bibliography).
Cajetan has been described as small in bodily stat- ure but gigantic in intellect. In all his varied and laborious offices he never omitted his daily study and writing, nor failed in the practices of the religious life. He faced the trying issues of his times calmly and fearlessly, and endeavoured by learning, tact, and charity to pacify hostile minds, to lead back the err- ing, to stem the 'tide of heresy, and to prevent schism. His written solutions of living moral problems cover a wide field. His circumstances and position often required him to take part in polemical discussion-, yet he is said never to have given personal offence in his writing:- His st vie purjjy scisntifi: ind unrho- torical, is the more noteworthy for having attained its directness and simplicity in the golden age of Human- ism. More than any other philosopher and theolo- gian of his epoch, he' ministered to actual intellectual needs of the Church. With penetrat ion and sagacity he ranged beyond the confines of contemporary thought, and in his tentative solutions of grave prob- lems, still open and unsettled, displayed judgment and frankness. It is not strange that lie developed tendencies which surprised the more conservative, and essaved opinions which in some instances were, and have remained, unusual and occasionally errone- ous. He found numerous critics, even in Ins own order, who were as censorious of him as his fi were zealous in upholding his merits. Among his opponents, the learned Dominican Bartholomew Spina (d. 1542) was conspicuous. His persistent antagonism began, strangely enough, after he had written a laudatory preface to Cajetan's commentary
