GONZÁLEZ Y DÍAZ TUÑÓN, CEFERINO

Dominican cardinal and philosopher; b. San Nicolás de Villoria, Asturias, Jan. 28, 1831; d. Madrid, Nov. 29, 1894. Entering the Dominican Order for the province of the Philippines in 1844, he was sent to Manila in 1849, where he studied and was ordained in 1859. He taught at the University of Santo Tomás (1859–66) and returned to Spain in 1867. Consecrated bishop of Córdoba in 1875, he was made archbishop of Seville in 1883, cardinal in 1884, and archbishop of Toledo in 1886. Through his teaching and many publications he contributed substantially to the restoration of thomism prior to aeterni patris. To a profound knowledge of Thomistic philosophy he added a wide knowledge of modern thinkers and a deep interest in the physical sciences. For him, Thomism was not a closed system, but a progressive, living tradition capable of renewing itself and of assimilating the progress of science. His first work was Estudios sobre la filosofia de Santo Tomás (Manila 1864). Later he wrote Philosophia elementaria, 3 v. (Madrid 1868; Spanish tr., 2 v. Madrid 1873); Estudios religiosos, filosóficos, científicos y morales (Madrid 1873); and Historia de la filosofia, 3 v. (Madrid 1878–79). In his last publication, La Biblia y la ciencia, 2 v. (Madrid 1891, 1894), he presented the scriptural problem clearly and formulated solid principles of resolution that were adopted by J. lagrange in his preface to Revue Biblique (1892) and by Leo XIII in his providentissimus deus.

Bibliography: a. frÜhwirth, Analecta Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum 2 (1895–96) 34–41. n. del prado, Revue thomiste 3 (1895) 85–94. g. fraile, Revista de Filosofia 15 (1956) 465–488. f. diaz de cerio, Pensamiento 20 (1964) 27–70.

[g. fraile]