CROCKAERT, PETER

Belgian Dominican scholastic; b. Brussels, second half of the 15th century; d. probably Paris, 1514. He studied arts at the Collège de Montaigu in Paris, where he had the Scottish Ockhamist John Major (1469–1550) as one of his professors. As a young man he defended nominal ism but later whole-heartedly embraced thomism. In 1503 he became a Dominican at the reformed priory of Saint-Jacques in Paris, where he lectured in theology the rest of his life. He ardently defended Thomism against nominalism and scotism. His deep appreciation of hu manism and his humanistic elegance in style revolutionized scholastic theology and inaugurated a "second Thomism." In 1509 he began lecturing on the Summa theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas instead of the Sentences of Peter Lombard. He greatly inspired his disciples, notably Francisco de vitoria, with whom he coedited the Summa theologiae 2a2ae (Paris 1512). His writings were greatly esteemed in his day, particularly his commentaries on the Summa theologiae and on the De ente of Aquinas, on the De anima and other physical and logical works of Aristotle, and on the Summulae logicales of Peter of Spain.

Bibliography: e. m. filthaut, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 3:98. Biographie nationale de Belgique 4:511–512. m. grabmann, Mittelalterliches Geistesleben, 3 v. (Munich 1926–56) 1:320. r. g. villoslada, "La Universidad de Paris durante los estudios de Francisco de Vitoria, 1507–1922," Analecta Gregoriana 17 (1938) 229–270.

[j. f. hinnebusch]