Alfonso Salmerón

Alfonso Salmerón

Alfonso Salmerón (born September 8, 1515 in Toledo , † February 13, 1585 in Naples ) was a Spanish Jesuit , preacher and theologian during the Renaissance .

Life

Alfonso Salmerón was born in Toledo. He first studied at the University of Alcalá , where he learned Latin and Greek and made friends with Diego Laínez . In 1532 Salmerón and Laínez went to Paris for further studies , where they met Ignatius of Loyola . Salmerón and Laínez were accompanied by him in the thirty days of spiritual exercises . Together with four other companions, Peter Faber , Franz Xaver , Alfonso Rodrigues and Nicolás Bobadilla , the three formed the core group of the later Jesuit order. On August 15, 1534, they made the vows of poverty, chastity and pilgrimage together to Jerusalem on Montmartre . Since the passage to Jerusalem was not always possible, the seven companions also made an alternative vow: should it prove impracticable to travel to the Holy Land, the men would make themselves available to the Pope. In 1536 they brought up to Venice with three new companions, Jean Codure, Paschase Broet and Claude Jay. In fact, no ship went to Jerusalem that year, so they presented to the Pope and received extensive privileges, including receiving holy orders "on the title of poverty and sufficient learning". They were ordained priests in 1537, Salmerón a little later than the rest because he had not yet reached the canonically required age.

Salmerón's mission as a Jesuit took him through various countries in Europe: as a preacher, he worked primarily in many cities in Italy, and in 1541/42 as apostolic nuncio to Paul III. together with Broet in Ireland and Scotland, as papal theologian at the Council of Trent , as professor of Holy Scripture at the University of Ingolstadt , and finally as superior in Naples , where he founded a Jesuit college in 1551 . In the years 1561/62 he was vicar general of the Jesuit order.

plant

Salmerón's apostolic wandering life produced little written evidence for a long time; However, when he was old and had various health problems (including no more teeth and a recurring fever), he wrote a 21-volume commentary on the entire New Testament in Naples. Salmerón's exegetical work shows a profound knowledge of the Scriptures not only in the canonical version of the Latin Vulgate, but also in Greek, Hebrew and even Syriac. He extensively cites many works by the Church Fathers , of which he had extensive knowledge. An equally comprehensive classical education that enabled Salmerón to quote authors by heart on the basis of his phenomenal memory since his first years at university, also identifies him as a humanist .

literature

• Igna Kramp: The Jesuit Alfonso Salmerón (1515–1585) as a humanistic theologian. Similarities and differences to Erasmus from Rotterdam . In: Theologie und Philosophie , Vol. 90 (2015), pp. 504–527.

Web links

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