Sa (Saa), Manoel de, a 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 Univer- sity of Coimbra, and at the age of fifteen joined the Society of Jesus. He soon afterwards taught philos- ophy, 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 pro- fessors 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 discon- tinued 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 s(;holar.ship induced Pius V to ap- point 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 apos- tolic labours and from founding several hou.ses 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 QuatuorEvangelia" (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 Con- fessariorum 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 recent Iv licen removed from the Roman Index (1900). Sa's life of John of Texeda, the Capuchin confes.sor of St. Francis of Borgia, when Duke of Gandia, has not been published.
Dr Backer, Biblioth. des Ecriiains de la Compagnie de Jisus (LiSge, 1853); Hurter, Nomenclator (Innsbruck, 1907).
Francis E. Gigot.
Saavedra Remirez de Baquedano, Angel de, Spanish poet and statesman, b. at Cordova, 10 March, 1791; d. at Madrid, 22 June, 1865. He was the second son of Juan Martin de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas, and succeeded to the title upon the death without issue of his elder brother in 1834. At eleven he entered the Seminario de Nobles at Madrid but left at sixteen to join the army. From 1808 to 1813 he took an active part in the Spanish War of In- dependence. From 1813 to 1820 he lived quietly in Seville, devoting his time to literary pursuits, and from 1820 to 1823 he distinguished himself as a member of the Cortes. He sided with the revolu- tionary party, and as a result, when Ferdinand VII came into power, he was forced to flee, escaping with difficulty to C^.ibraltar. From there he proceeded to London, and later to Malta where he remained five years during which he continued his literary activities, and then went to live in France. Upon the death of Ferdinand VII, he was able to return to Spain(1834). In 1836, he became minister of the interior in the cabinet headed by Isturiz, and in 1844 he was sent
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as ambassador to Naples where he remained until
1850. Besides being a poet of great merit, Saavedra
had considerable skill as a painter, and during his
exile in France, earned a living for himself and family
by conducting a school for painting and by selling
his pictures. But it is as a poet that he is best known.
He pubhshed his first volume of "Poesias" in 1813
and in 1814, two tragedies, "Ahatur" and "El
Duque de Aquitania". Only the first was presented.
The works which place him in the front rank of
Spanish poets are "El moro exp6sito", a narrative
poem breathing a spirit of patriotism (1834), and the
tragedy "Don Alvaro" (1835), presented with great
success in Madrid and considered his best work. A
complete edition of his works was published (5
vols., Madrid, 1854), under the title "Obras Com-
pletas", and in 1885 a complete edition with illus-
trations appeared at Barcelona in two volumes.
De Bena in La Bihlioleca de Autore.t Esparloles, II (Madrid, 184S); Canete, Autores dramdlicos contempordneos, I (Madrid,
1881).
Ventura Fuentes.
Saba and Sabeans.— This Saba (Sheba) must not be confounded with Saba (Seba) in Ethiopia of Is., xliii, 3; xlv, 14. It lies in the Southern Arabian Jof about 200 miles north-west of Aden. The Sabeans are mentioned in the Bible as a distant people (Joel, iii, 8), famous traders (Ez., xxvii, 22-3; xxxviii, 13; Job, vi, 19), who exi^orted gold (Is., Ix, 6; Ps., Ixxii, 15 (R. V.); Ez., xxxviii, 13), precious stones (Ez., xxvii, 22), perfumes (Jer., vi, 20), incense (Is., Ix, 6), and perhaps slav(>s (Joel, ibid.), and prac- tised brigandage. The genealogies of Genesis con- nect them now with Dadan, as sons of Regma (x, 7; cf. I Par., i, 9) and of Jecsan (xxv, 3; cf. I Par., i, 32), now with Asarmoth (Hadhramot), as sons of Jecsan (x, 26-8, cf., I Par., i, 20-22). These details point to two Sabas, one in the south contiguous to Hadhramot, another in the north near Taima (Job, i, 15; vi, 19) and El 'Ela (cf. "Comptes rendus de I'Academie des Inscriptions" etc., June, 1910); but which was the original home of the Sabeans, cannot .yet be decided. Hommel indeed i)lacesit in the north, near Idumean Dedan, and idcnfilics it with .\rii)i- Yareb (whose queens figure in Assyrian inscriptions), with the Saba, whose queen vi.sited Solomon (III Kings, x), which is probably mentioned as tributary to Theglathphalasar III (745-27 n. c), and whose ruler, Ithamara, paid tribute to Sargon in 715 b. c. Thence (according to Glaser) the Sabeans moved south in the eighth or ninth century and estab- lished their kingdom on the ruins of the Mintean power. This theory is plausible and solves the dif- ficulty of III Kings, x; but the identification of Saba with Aribi-Yareb is arbitrary, and all present evi- dence disproves the existence of kings in Saba till much later. Sargon, who lavish(!s the title of King on his tributaries, refuses it to Ithamara, the Yetha- mara of Sabean inscriptions, and these ins(Tiptions point to a long period of rule by Mukarribs (priest- kings), ten of whose names have been preserved.
Their capital was C'irwah. Authorities agree in dating their rule from the beginning of the tenth century b. c, and in making the advent of the kings contemporaneous with the destruction of the Mina?an kingdom. Here agreement ceases. Glaser, e. g. dates the Sabean kings from 820, Mullcr from 750,
