Martin Becan

Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.

Jesuit · 1561–1624

In the Index: Becanus

In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index

“Becanus, Martinus, S.J., Belgian (1561-1624), whose works excel in clarity and brevity. The author published about 50 little works, chiefly for defending the Catholic faith and the Church. For moral theology, the Tractatus de iure et iustitia and the Tractatus de sacramentis are useful.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
“Becanus Martinus, Belgian, S.J., taught theology for 22 years at Wurzburg, Mainz, and Vienna in Austria with great admiration; born 1561, died 1624.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XIV, sign read on the page)

His Moral System, as Our Authors Report It

Every report quoted in the author's own words and linked to its place; point at a name to see his words. Haringer's signs give St. Alphonsus's judgment as Haringer found it in St. Alphonsus's works (his notice, Gury-Ballerini, 1884, p. XI); a sign on a writer the 1884 editor added to the list is the editor's own, and is said to be his.

Probabilist
Counted among them by one of our authors	Bucceroni, Commentarii, n. 108

Where Our Authors Discuss Him

Each read in its full passage; the words quoted are the author's own. Where several authors say the same thing, one is quoted and the others follow “in nearly the same words”; point at a name to see his words.

“such as Suarez, Vasquez, Lessius, Lugo, Gregory of Valencia, Becanus”Marc, quoting Ernest Müller, names him among the scholastics who set forth moral doctrine both positively and speculatively	Marc, Institutiones I, n. 6
“There is a double precept of loving God”Daniel quotes him among the Jesuit theologians who taught the strict precept of loving God	Daniel, Apology, ¶ 66
“Martin Becanus (+ 1624)”Koch-Preuss name him among those who, after Trent, joined a systematic exposition with its defense against the Reformers	Koch-Preuss, Handbook I, history of moral theology

Works Our Authors Used

Martinus Becanus, S.J. - Summa Theologiae Scholasticae, fol. (Lyon, 1690). — Marc's list

In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

“Martin Becan”, vol. 2, by Francis O'Laughlin. Public domain; transcription at New Advent (which expands some of the print's abbreviations).

(Verbreck, van der Breck).

Controversialist, born at Hilvarenbeck, Brabant, Holland, 6 January, 1563; died at Vienna, 24 January, 1624. He entered the Society of Jesus, 22 March, 1583, taught theology for twenty-two years at Wuerzburg, Mainz, and Vienna, and was confessor to Emperor Ferdinand II from 1620 until the time of his death. He possessed a style clear and dignified, and noticeably free from the bitterness which marked the polemical literature of the day. His writings were directed principally against Calvin, Luther, and the Anabaptists; of these, his "Manuale Controversarium," Mainz, 1623, treating of predestination, free will, the Eucharist, and the infallibility of the Church, passed through several editions. For a complete list, see Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus" (I, col. 1091-1111), wherein are mentioned by title forty-six volumes. His chief theological work, "Summa Theologiae Scholasticae (4 vols. 4to, Mainz, 1612) is in great part a compendium of Francisco Suárez's Commentary on St. Thomas Aquinas. By a decree of the Congregation of the Index, 3 January, 1613, his book "Controversia Anglicana de postestate regis et pontificis" was put on the Index donec corrigatur, not so much to condemn certain exaggerations it contained as to prevent the faculty of theology at Paris from condemning it and at the same time adding some declarations against papal authority. The "Controversia" was corrected and published somewhat later with a dedication to Pope Paul V. Becan, in 1608, published at Mainz, "Aphorismi doctrinae Calvinistarium ex eorum libris, dictis et factis collecti," in reply to Calvin's "Aphorismi doctrinae Jesuitarum." Aphorismus XV, Jesuiti vero qui se maxime nobis opponunt, aut necandi aut si id commode fier non potest, ejiciendi, aut certe mendaciis ac calumniis opprimendi sunt" (The Jesuits, our chief adversaries, ought to be put to death, or if that cannot easily be done, they ought to be banished, or, at any rate, overwhelmed with lies and calumnies), has been misconstrued so as to make it appear than Becan wished to say that Aphorismus XV contained the very words of Calvin. That such was not Becan's intention is clear from the title of the book, "Aphorismi ex eorum libris dictis et factis collecti" and the development shows that the author was only drawing what he considered to be a logical conclusion from the action of the Calvinists of the time. A lengthy discussion about this aphorism was carried on by A. Sabatier in the "Journal de Genève" (26 January, 1896; 10 May, 1896) and the "Revue Chrétienne" (1 March, 1896; 1 June, 1896), and by J. Brucker in the "Etudes" (15 April, and 15 July, 1896).

Sources: Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la c. de J., I, 1091-1111; De Backer, Bibl. des escriv. la c. de J., I, 56; Bruckner, in Dict. de theol. cath., s.v.; Hurter, Nomenclature, I, 293.