COMPLUTENSES

A name referring to the professors of philosophy in the Discalced Carmelite College of St. Cyril at Alcalá de Henares (Complutum), who published a complete course of philosophy in the 17th century. Principal among them were Michael of the Most Holy Trinity (1588–1661), regent of the College of Alcalá; Anthony of the Mother of God (1587–1641), a theologian at the University of Salamanca; Blaise of the Conception (1603–94), the French visitator general of the Carmelites; and John of the Annunciation (1633–1701), one time general of the Spanish congregation. Their Cursus artium, as it came to be known, first appeared in four volumes between 1624 and 1628 and was entitled Collegium Complutense philosophicum, hoc est artium cursus, sive disputationes in Aristotelis dialecticam et philosophicam naturalem, juxta Angelici Doctoris D. Thomae doctrinam et ejus scholam. It was frequently edited and reprinted. A two-volume commentary by Blaise of the Conception on Aristotle's Metaphysics was added as a fifth volume to the Lyons editions of 1651 and 1668. But because it was less well adapted to beginners, John of the Annunciation excluded it in publishing a five-volume edition augmented with special questions in metaphysics and natural philosophy (Lyons 1669–71). Henceforth the complete Cursus consisted of seven volumes (John's five and Blaise's two) and became a classic introduction to the Cursus theologicus Salmanticensis, for which it had served as a model (see salmanticenses). The Complutenses wrote in the traditional scholastic form of a commentary on the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas and maintained a close adherence to the doctrine of Aquinas. The Cursus was entirely lacking in personal opinions peculiar to the authors; it constitutes a veritable encyclopedia of Thomistic philosophy.

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[f. j. roensch]