Louis of Granada

Venerable Luis of Granada OP
Born	Luís Sarria 1504 Granada, Spain
Died	31 December 1588 (aged 84) Lisbon, Portugal
Education
Alma mater	University of Valladolid
Philosophical work
Era	humanism
Region	Spain

Louis of Granada, in some sources Luis of Granada, (1504 – 31 December 1588), was a Dominican friar who was noted as theologian, writer and preacher. His beatification process has been long open with the Holy See, with his current status being venerable.

Biography

Luis was born in Granada of poor parents named Sarria. At the age of nineteen he was received into the Dominican Order in the Priory of the Holy Cross in Granada. His philosophical studies once over, he was chosen by his superiors to represent his community at the Colegio de San Gregorio at Valladolid, an institution of the Dominican Order reserved for extraordinary students.

When Luis had completed these studies, he embarked upon the career of a preacher, in which he continued with extraordinary success during forty years. The fame of his preaching spread beyond the boundaries of his native land, and at the request of Henrique of Portugal, son of King Manuel, he was transferred to Portugal, where he became Prior Provincial of the Portuguese Dominicans in 1557. His extraordinary sanctity, learning, and wisdom soon attracted the attention of the queen regent, who appointed him her confessor and counselor. The Bishopric of Viseu and the Archbishopric of Braga were successively offered to him only to be courteously, but firmly, refused. The honours of the cardinalate, offered to him by Pope Sixtus V, were also declined.

His published works treat various topics in Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography and church history. He is best known, however, for his writings in ascetical theology, most of which have been translated into a variety of other languages. The best known of these is The Sinner's Guide (La Guía de Pecadores), published in 1555. It is marked by a smooth, harmonious Spanish idiom which has earned it the reputation of a classic, and by an eloquence that has made it a perennial source of religious inspiration. It has been compared with Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ. Fairly soon after its first appearance it was translated into Italian, Latin, French, German, Polish, and Greek.

In 1539, at the age of 35, he wrote a small tract on the method of prayer for a student who had written to him for advice. This tract developed into his first book, The Book of Prayer and Meditation, published in 1554. The unexpected success of the book led him to dedicate himself to writing on spiritual themes for all. He led a life of an ascetic, his cell being poor and having few possessions. He wrote for 35 years, producing 49 works. All money that he earned from his writings went to the poor.

Luis died at the age of 84 at Lisbon, Portugal.

Works

Luis de Granada produced in total 45 works, in Spanish, Latin and Portuguese, comprising original works, as well as translations of others' works and revisions and additions to his own previously published works. Among the works authored by him are:

• Libro de la Oracion y Meditacion (The Book of Prayer and Meditation), (Salamanca: Andrés de Portonariis, 1554; revised, 1566)
• Memorial de la Vida Cristiana (A Memorial of a Christian life), 2 vols, (Lisbon, 1565)
• Guía de pecadores (The Sinner's Guide), 2 vols, (Lisbon, 1556, 1557) – available as HTML version or archive.org version
• Introducción del símbolo de la fe, (Salamanca, 1584)
• Vida de Jesucristo: para conocer, amar e imitar a nuestro Señor
• Vida de María: vida y misterio de la Santísima Virgen
• Los seis libros de la Retórica Eclesiástica o Método de Predicar
• Adiciones al Memorial de la Vida Cristiana
• Compendio y Explicacion de la Doctrina Cristiana
• Oracion al Glorioso Patriarca Sancto Domingo
• Vida de fray Bartolome de los Martires
• Trece sermones

A collected edition of his works was published in 9 volumes at Antwerp in 1578.

Later reputation

A biography was written by L. Munoz, La Vida y virtudes de Luis de Granada (Madrid, 1639).

Rose of Lima's favorite book by Luis was The Book of Prayer and Meditation—a book that laments the miseries of life and manifests spiritual contempt for the world. Once, it was said, she banished the devil's temptations by reading this book, causing the devil to snatch the book from her and throw it onto a rubbish heap. Rose remained calm, certain that the Lord would return it to her, and she got it back.

Other famous Catholics who have read and loved the works of Louis of Granada include Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, Francis de Sales, Cardinal Berulle and Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (all French); Charles Borromeo (Italian), Louis of Leon (Spanish), and the Jesuit and Barnabite Orders. Teresa of Ávila read his books and commanded her nuns to do so.

Francis de Sales highly commended to a bishop-elect to have the whole works of Louis of Granada, and to regard them as a second breviary. He advised him to read them carefully, beginning with The Sinner's Guide. He said, "But to read him with fruit you must not run through him hastily; he must be pondered, and have his full weight, and chapter after chapter must be mused upon and applied to the soul with much thought and prayer to God. You must read him with reverence and devotion, like a book containing the most useful inspirations man can receive from on high, and thereby reform all the powers of the soul."

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Louis of Granada — Theologian, writer, and preacher; b. of very humble parentage at Granada, Spain, 1505; d. at Lisbon, 31 December, 1588. At the age of nineteen he was received into the Dominican Order in the convent of Santa Cruz, Granada. With a mentality of the highest quality and the gift of unremitting application he united a profoundly spiritual character which promised a brilliant and fruitful career in the sevice of the Church. His philosophical studies finished, he was chosen by his superiors to represent his convent at the College of St. Gregory at Valladolid, an institution of the Dominican Order reserved for students possessed of more than ordinary ability. Here he acquitted himself with rare distinction, not only in the regular ecclesiastical courses, but in the humanities, to which he gave special attention at the request of his superiors. His studies completed, he at once entered upon the career of a preacher, in which he continued with extraordinary success during forty years. The fame of his preaching spread beyond the boundaries of his native land, and at the request of the Cardinal Infante, Dom Henrique of Portugal, son of King Manuel, he was transferred to the latter country, where he became provincial of the Portuguese Dominicans in 1557. His extraordinary sanctity, learning, and wisdom soon attracted the attention of the queen regent, who appointed him her confessor and counsellor. The Bishopric of Viseu and the Archbishopric of Braga were successively offered to him only to be courteously, but firmly, refused. The honours of the cardinalate, offered to him by Pope Sixtus V, were also declined.

Among the hundreds of eminent ascetical writers of Spain, Louis of Granada remains unsurpassed in the beauty and purity of his style, the solidity of his doctrine, and the popularity and influence of his writings. Besides ascetical theology, his published works treat of Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography, and history. He is best known, however, for his ascetical writings. The appreciation of their worth extended throughout Europe, and later to America, and their popularity still remains but little impaired after the passage of four hundred years. Nearly all of these works were translated into the various European languages and several into Turkish and Japanese. The best known of his ascetical writings, and the one that achieved the greatest measure of success, is "The Sinner's Guide" (La Guia de Pecadores). This work was published at Badajoz in 1555. It is marked by a smooth, harmonious style of purest Spanish idiom which has merited for it the reputation of a classic, and by an unctuous eloquence that has made it a perennial source of religious inspiration. It has been most favourable compared with A Kempis's "Imitation of Christ". Within a comparatively short time after its first appearance it was translated into Italian, Latin, French, German, Polish, and Greek. A new and revised English translation was published at New York in 1889. His "Memorial of the Christian Life" (Memorial de la vida christiana) is almost equally well known. In 1576 he published at Lisbon a Latin work on the principles of pulpit oratory (Rhetoricae Ecclesiasticae, sive de ratione concionandi). It enjoyed an extensive vogue, not only in Spain, but in most of the countries of Europe; new editions appeared successively at Venice (1578), Cologne (1578, 1582, 1611), Milan (1585), and Paris (1635). A Spanish translation was published at Madrid in 1585. To illustrate the principles embodied in this work, a volume of the author's sermons, marked by great purity of style and deep religious feeling, was published seven years after his death. In all, some twenty-seven works are attributed to his pen. A Latin edition of all his writings was published by Andrew Schott and Michael of Isselt at Cologne in 1628-29. A complete edition of his ascetical works was brought out at Madrid, in 1679, by Dionysius Sanchez Moreno, O.P., and a complete edition of his sermons, in French, at Paris, in 1868.

TICKNOR, History of Spanish Literature, III (London, 1871); QUETIF AND ECHARD, Script. Ord. Praed.; TOURON, Histoire des hommes illustres de l'Ordre de Saint Dominique, IV (Paris, 1743-49), 558-592; HURTER, Nomenclator literarius, I. The first part of The Sinner's Guide entitled Counsels on Holiness of Life, ed. SHIPLEY in The Ascetic Library, VIII (London, 1869), contains a brief sketch of the author's life.

External links

• Media related to Luis de Granada at Wikimedia Commons
• First Part of Luis of Granada's Commentary on the Creed in English