Juan Cardenas

This article is about the Spanish theologian. For the Colombian painter, see Juan Cárdenas.

Crisis theologica, 1694

Juan Cardenas (b. at Seville, 1613; d. 6 June 1684) was a Spanish Jesuit moral theologian and author. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of fourteen, and during many years held in it the office of rector, master of novices, and provincial.

Works

Cardenas is chiefly remembered for his contributions to moral theology, which won praise from Alphonsus Ligouri. His controversial two-part "Crisis theologica bipartita, sive Desputationes selectæ" (Lyons, 1670), with an added supplement in the 1680 edition, argued against Laxism and Rigorism in favor of Probabilism. The Venetian editions of 1694, 1700, and 1710 combined the three previous parts with an explanation of the propositions condemned by the pope in 1679; this last has often been published separately under the title: Crisis theologica in qua plures selectæ difficultates ex morali theologia ad lydium veritatis lapidem revocantur ex regula morem positâ a SS. D.N. Innocentis XI P.M., etc.

Cardenas also composed several small ascetical treatises, including:

• "Seven Meditations on Jesus Crucified" (originally published at Seville, 1678)
• "Geminum sidus Mariani diadematis" (Lyons, 1673)

He additionally wrote two pious biographies:

• "Historia de la Vida y Virtudes de la Venerable Virgen Damiana de las Llangas" (Seville, 1675)
• "Breve relación de la Muerte, Vida, y Virtudes del Venerabile Cavallero D. Miguel Manara Vincentelo de Leca" (Seville, 1679)

References

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Juan Cardenas". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
  • Nicolas Antonio: Bibliotheca Hispana nova. Madrid, 1783, I, 671;
  • Ribadeneira-Sotwell: Bibliotheca Scriptorum S.J. Rome, 1676;
  • Augustin de Backer and Carlos Sommervogel: Bibliothèque de la c de J. Brussels, Paris, 1891, II, col. 734-37;
  • De Backer: Bibliographie des éscrevains de la c. de J. Liège, 1869, I, col. 1078;
  • Hugo von Hurter: Nomenclator. Innsbruck, 1876, II, p. 1, 231;
  • Ignaz von Döllinger & Franz Heinrich Reusch: Geschichte der Moralstreitigkeiten in der Römisch-katholischen Kirche. Nördlingen, 1889, I, 39, 41, 46.