Francisco Toledo

In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index

• “Toletus, Franc., S.J., Spanish (1532-1596), Cardinal, wrote Instructio sacerdotum and De septem peccatis, which work was very often edited and sometimes also under the title Summa casuum conscientiae sive instructio sacerdotum in libros VIII distincta. St. Francis de Sales highly commended this work to his clergy. Besides this Toletus left several unpublished writings, from which Ios. Paria, S.J., published In Summam theologicam S. Thomae enarratio, 4 volumes in 4to, Rome 1869.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
• [**: weighty, probabilist] “Toletus Franciscus, Spanish, was a singular ornament of the Society of Jesus, and with Bellarmine, Lugo, and Pallavicino was held worthy to be assumed into the sacred college of Cardinals. He so excellently joined highest knowledge with profound humility and devotion that many doubted whether they should admire his sanctity or doctrine more. His instruction of priests was received with the highest praise of the Christian world, and was commended to the clergy by St. Francis de Sales as containing safe doctrine. Cabassutius, although an antiprobabilist, did not hesitate to say that many ages would scarcely see a man of such merit, and that no praises would suffice for Cardinal Toledo; born 1532, died 1596 .” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XXX, 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.

Our authors disagree. Probabilist: Marc, Prümmer, Konings, Haringer's index, Tanquerey. Against probabilism: Concina.

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.

Works Our Authors Used

• Franciscus Toletus, S.J., Cardinal. - Instructio Sacerdotum; (Rome, 1611). — Marc's list

In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

“Francisco Toledo”, vol. 14, by Antonio Pérez Goyena. Public domain; transcription from Wikisource.

Philosopher, theologian, and exegete, son of an actuary, b. at Córdova, 4 Oct., 1532; d. at Rome, 14 Sept., 1596. He studied philosophy at Valencia and theology under Domingo Soto at Salamanca. At the age of twenty-three he taught philosophy at Salamanca, and, after his ordination, entered the Society of Jesus there, 3 June, 1558, and made his novitiate at Simancas. In 1559 he went to Rome and was professed in 1564. He successively filled the posts of master of novices, professor of philosophy for three years, Scholastic and moral theology for six years, and prefect of studies of the Roman College. He was theologian of the Sacred Penitentiary and preacher to the pope and cardinals for twenty-four years, accompanied Monsignor Commendone on his mission to the Emperor Maximilian and King Sigismund of Poland, and was the envoy of various popes to Vienna, Poland, Germany, Bavaria, and Louvain, where he received Baius's abjuration of the propositions which had been condemned by Pius V and Gregory XIII. Clement VIII created him a cardinal, 17 September, 1593; this dignity, it seems, he desired to renounce in 1594 so that he would be free to retire and die in one of the Jesuit houses. He was largely instrumental in the reconciliation of Henry IV to the Church and to Spain; at his death Henry had a memorial service for him in Paris. As a religious he is classed by Mariana as of ordinary virtue; he was dispensed from religious obedience by a secret papal Brief, lived in the papal palace, sought the cardinal's hat, and in the latter years of his life intervened in Jesuit affairs with disastrous results. Gregory XIII considered him one of the most learned men of his age, and Soto ranks him as a genius.

His philosophical works, especially "De anima", adopted as a text-book in the University of Salamanca, give indications of a philosophical revival as regards both matter and method. Irrelevant questions are set aside, others are weighed or reduced, and certain problems are stated and discussed in a broader spirit. In his Scriptural commentaries he examines every sentence of the text, points out their relationship, give Patristic references in the annotations, discusses and judges dogmatic questions learnedly and lucidly. By some he is considered the foremost interpreter of his century, and his exegetical works certainly deserve the first place. In his theological works he is clear, concise, and orderly. He proclaims himself a disciple of St. Augustine and St. Thomas, although on certain questions he is quite at variance with them, as for example the proximate cause of predestination, which for him is prævisa bona opera. In regard to the famous Scotist teaching that the Word would have become man even if Adam had not sinned, he says: it is neither true, probable, nor ingenious. His works may be divided into three classes: (1) Philosophical: "Introductio in dialecticam Aristotelis" (Rome, 1561), thirteen editions, apparently the first work of a Jesuit to be printed in Mexico; "Commentaria una cum quæstionibus in universam Aristotelis logicam" (Rome, 1572), seventeen editions; "Commentaria de physica auscultatione" (Venice, 1573), fifteen editions; "De generatione et corruptione" (Venice, 1575), seven editions; "De anima" (Venice, 1574), twenty editions; "Opera omnia. Opera philosophica" (Lyons, 1586-92), only one volume issued. (2) Theological: "In Summam theologiæ S. Thomæ Aquinatis enarratio" (4 vols., Rome, 1869), published by Father José Paría, S.J.; "Summa casuum sive instructio sacerdotum" (Lyons, 1599), forty-six editions (Spanish tr., Juan de Salas; Italian, Andreo Verna; French, Goffar; summaries in Latin, Spanish, French, and Italian). (3) Exegetical: "In sacrosanctum Joannis Evangelium commentarium" (Rome, 1592), nine editions; "In prima XII capita Sacrosancti Jesu Christi D. N. Evangelium secundum Lucam" (Rome, 1600), printing supervised by Father Miguel Vázquez, S. J.; "In Epistolam B. Pauli Apostoli ad Romanos" (Rome, 1602), Chaldean tr., Father Azevedo. Manuscripts: "Emmendationes in Sacra Biblia vulgata", corrected by direction of Clement VIII; "Regulæ hebraicæ pro lingua sancta intelligenda". Sermons: "Motivós y advertencias de casas dignas de refomación cerca del Breviario".

NIEREMBERG, Varones ilustres de la compañía de Jesus, V (Bilbao, 1890); PARIA, Francisci Toleti e Societate Jesu S. R. E. Præsbyteri Cardinalis, introduction to In Summam theologiæ S. Thomæ Aquinatis enarratio (Rome, 1869); ASTRAIN , Historia de la compañía de jesus en la Asistencia de España, III (Madrid, 1909), 595-604, 630-33; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibliothèque de la compagnie de Jésus, VIII, 64; HURTER, Nomenclator.

Antonio Pérez Goyena.