Francisco Suárez

Francisco Suárez (1548–1617) was born at Granada and studied law at Salamanca before entering the Society of Jesus in 1564. He taught philosophy and theology at Segovia, Valladolid, the Roman College, Alcalá and Salamanca, and from 1597 until 1616 held the principal chair of theology at the University of Coimbra. He died at Lisbon. He was called the Exceptional Doctor, Doctor Eximius.

He was the most influential Jesuit theologian of his age. His Disputationes metaphysicae of 1597 were the first systematic treatise on metaphysics independent of the commentary form, and they were used in Catholic and Protestant universities for more than a century. His theology follows the Summa theologiae while departing from Thomist positions in several places, notably on the distinction of essence and existence and on grace, where he developed a form of congruism. His De legibus was an important work in the history of natural and international law.

The library holds his commentaries and disputations on the first part of the Summa theologiae, on God one and three. They are a direct way to compare his reading of Thomas with those of the Dominican commentators in this library.