Manoel de Sa

In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index

• “Sa, Eman., S.J., Spanish (1530-1596), wrote the little work Aphorismi confessariorum, 1 volume in 12mo, placed on the Index in 1603, but afterward corrected.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
• [**: weighty, probabilist] “Sa Emmanuel, Portuguese, S.J. Saint Pius V esteemed him highly and employed him in the new edition of the sacred books (Aphorisms of Confessors), born 1530, died 1596.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XXVIII, 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.

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.

In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

“Manoel de Sa”, vol. 13, by Francis Gigot. Public domain; transcription at New Advent (which expands some of the print's abbreviations).

Portuguese theologian and exegete, b. at Villa do Conde (Province Entre-Minho-e-Douro), 1530; d. at Arona (Italy), 30 Dec., 1596. He distinguished himself as a student at the University of Coimbra, and at the age of fifteen joined the Society of Jesus. He soon afterward taught philosophy, first at Coimbra, and next at Gandia, where he also acted as tutor to St. Francis Borgia, then Duke of Gandia. In 1557, he became one of the early professors of the Roman College, and commented for two years on the prophecies of Osee and the "Summa" of St. Thomas. Exhausted by his labours, he discontinued his lectures, and visited the houses of the Society in Tuscany. Restored to health, he returned to the Roman College, where he filled the chair of exegesis, and found time to give missions in various places, preaching with an eloquence truly apostolic. His reputation for scholarship induced Pius V to appoint him as a member of the commission in charge of preparing the authentic edition of the Septuagint. This did not prevent him from continuing his apostolic labours and from founding several houses of his order in Upper Italy. After residing for a time at Genoa, he withdrew to the professed house of Arona (Diocese of Milan), where he died. His exegetical works are: "Scholia in Quatuor Evangelia" (Antwerp, 1596), and "Notationes in totam Scripturam Sacram" (Antwerp, 1598), both of which passed through several editions. However short, Sa's annotations clearly set forth the literal sense of Holy Writ, and bespeak a solid erudition, despite a few inaccuracies which have been sharply rebuked by Protestant critics. His theological treatise entitled "Aphorismi Confessariorum ex Doctorum sententiis collecti" (Venice, 1595), however remarkable, was censured in 1603, apparently because the Master of the Sacred Palace treated some of its maxims as contrary to opinions commonly received among theologians, but it was later corrected and has recently removed from the Roman Index (1900). Sa's life of John of Texeda, the Capuchin confessor of St. Francis Borgia, when Duke of Gandia, has not been published.

Sources: DE BACKER, Biblioth. des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus (Liège, 1853); HURTER, Nomenclator (Innsbruck, 1907).