6BEG0RT
22
GREGORY
aetatis 63" from which it would appear that Gregory
was born in 1541. The date of his reception into the
Society of Jesus, however, is known. In loGo Greg-
ory was at Salamanca studying philosophy and j uris-
prudence. Attracted by the preaching of Father
Ramirez, S. J., he sought admis-sion into the recently
founded Society of Jesus, and entered the no\itiate
25 November of the same year under the guidance of
Father Balthasar Alvarez, one of the spiritual directs
ors of St. Teresa. After finishing his studies, but not
yet ordained, he was called in 1.J71 by St. Francis
Borgia, superior general of the ortler, to teach philoso-
phy in Rome. There he was ordained a priest. In
a short time his mtellectual attainments and his ability
as a teacher attracted such widespread attention that
after the death of St. Francis Borgia and the election
of his successor, Mercurian, the provincials of France
and North Germany tried to secure Gregory for uni-
versity work while the King of Poland desired his
services for that country. He was ultimately affiliated
with the German province and appointed by the
provincial. Father Hoffaus, to the chair of theology
at Dillingen, whence, two years later, he was trans-
ferred to a similar position at Ingolstadt. Here he
remained seventeen years (1575-1592) teaching
scholastic theology, during fifteen of which he was
rector of studies.
This period was marked by intense religious fer- ment. Not only did the anti-Catholic movement started in that centurj' continue, but the conflict among the various sectarian leaders, especially after Luther's death, became sharper. Lectures on the- ology had to be adapted to the altered circumstances of the times both in defence of Catholic dogma and in refutation of numerous errors. That Gregory realized the need of this course is evident from the disserta- tions produced under his direction and the disputa- tions that were hckl by candidates for the doctor's degree at Ingolstadt. But what he chiefly aimed at was the positive construction of Catholic doctrine, as he shows in his commentary on the " Summa Theo- logica " of St. Thomas which contains the substance of the lectures he delivered during many years. After resigning his professorship at Ingolstadt, he devoted most of his time (1592-97) to the revision and publica- tion of these lectures. They appeared under the title "Commentariorum theologicorum tomi qua- tuor"; the first volume was published at IngoLstadt (1591); a second edition of this appeared in 1592, to- gether with the second volume; the third was pul> lished in 1595, the fourth in 1597. After another revision by the author they were reijublished in 1603, and again in 1611 after the author's death. Other editions appeared at Venice, 1600-OS; Lyons, 1600- 03-09-12. It was one of the first comprehensive theological works produced among the Jesuits. These editions Ijrought out in such rapid succession attest the high rank occupied by this work in contempor- aneous theological literature. Its distinctive features are clearness, comprehensiveness, and depth in the treatment both of speculative and moral subjects.
His duties as professor, however, had not hindered him from publishing many polemical essays. These were directed principallyagamst Jakob Heerbrand,who was a professor at Tubingen and a zealous adherent of Luther. The catalogue of the"Ingolstadter Annalen" (Mederer, 11, 156) enumerates eight publications of this sort. Their principal purpose was to defend the veneration of the saints and the Holy Sacrifice o£ the Mass, e. g. " -Vpologeticus de Idololatria, adversus impium liliellum Jacobi Herbrandi etc." (Ingolstadt, 1579); an enlarged edition was published in 1580. In the same year he published " De sacrosancto MissiE sacrificio contra impiam disputationem Tubingse nuper a J.ac. Herbrando propositam etc.", which was followed by the "Apologia de SS. Missse sacrificio" (Ingolstadt, 1581). Later he edited his polemical
writings on the Blessed Sacrament, attacking the
ubiquity theory of the Lutheran champion Jacob
Schmidelin and the teachings of the Cahinists Crell
and Sadeel (surnamed C'handieu) concerning the
"figurative presence" of Christ in the Eucharist.
Sommervogel (in the Bibliotheque lie la Comp. de J.)
enumerates forty polemical pamphlets written by
Gregory, many of which, however, are only compila-
tions of various theses which formed the basis of
disputations for the doctorate. In 1591 he published
at Lyons a collective vohmie of his controversial
writings with a preface (dated 4 Sept., 1590) saying
that in response to the demand for his polemical
writings he had collected, revised, added some later
treatises, arranged the whole in a certain logical order,
and put them at the disposal of his publisher at Lyons,
that place being the most likely centre for the purpose
of distribution. After Gregory's death, this volume
was republished (Paris, 1610) with over one hundred
additional pages (unnumbered) of indexes. It was
entitled: "De rebus fidei hoc tempore controvcrsis".
Its weightiest and most comprehensive treatise is,
without doubt, the "Analysis Fidei Catholica>" which
had been published first in 1585. This is a methodical
demonstration that the true Christian faith is found
solely in the Roman Church, and that imion with the
pope is the only guarantee of right belief. As a de-
7no7jslratio caihulica, it retains its value to the pres-
ent day.
It is worthy of note that the last two volumes culminated in the proof of papal infallibility. In fact some of Gregory's theses not only foreshadow but express wellnigh literally the dogmatic definition of the Vatican Council in 1870, e. g. "In the Roman Pontiff himself is vested the authority which the Church possesses to pass judgment in all controversies regarding matters of faith. — Whensoever the Roman pontiff makes use of his autluirity in defining matters of faith, all the faithful are bound bv Divine precept to accept as doctrine of faith that which he so defines. And they must further believe that he is using this authority whensoever, either in his own right or in union with a coimcil of bishops, he decides upon con- troverted matters of faith in such wise as to make the decision binding upon the whole Church. " Gregory also became a leading factor in other discussions, for instance, the theologico-economical questions of the so-called "five per cent contract" which caused con- siderable excitement at the time and led many con- sciences astray. Even then the modern capitalistic system was nascent, though economic conditions had not yet reached the stage where money to any amount could be profitably invested and interest rightfvdly demanded on loans simply as such. The Church remained firm in its stand against usury, and insisted that if interest were to be charged it shouki be put on some other liasis than the mere fact of borrowing and lending. But as in passing upon the validity of differ- ent additional titles varying degrees of strictness were exercised, there resulted serious and even extreme differences in the ilirection of souls and in the practice of the confessional; the bishops themselves contra- dicted one another in their decrees on this subject; and meantime the five per cent contract became the general custom.
During the last decades of the sixteenth century, confusion in matters of conscience was widespread, especially in Bavaria. Duke William of Bavaria, who was personally in favour of strictly enforcing the law, called on the I'ni versify of Ingolstadt for a ruling, and eventually besought the Holy See to settle the question. In both the decisions CJrcgory plaj-ed a conspicuous part. He sought to have the practice of taking interest declared lawful on the basis of the so- called contractus trinvs and of a rental-purchase agreement which either party was free to terminate. ("The latter arrangement had been devised and
