LUIS DE MOLINA AND MIGUEL DE MOLINOS (1574-1674)

LUIS DE MOLINA

Born September 1535 Cuenca Spain.
Died Oct. 12, 1600 Madrid

Jesuit who devised the theological system known as Molinism which endeavoured to reconcile grace and free will while seeking to confirm that man´s will remains free under the action of divine grace (George´s simple note: when you are ready it pass).

He became a Jesuit at Coimbra Portugal (1553) where he studied philosophy and theology (1554-62). He taught at Coimbra (1563-67) and at Évora (1568-83) and spent his last years writing.

Molina´s works include his celebrated Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis (1588-89 The Union of Free Will and Divine Grace), Commentaria in primam partem divi Thomae (1592 Commentary on the First Part of the Divine Thomas) and De jure et justitia (6 vol., 1593-1609 On law and Justice).

Molinism led to a serious theological struggle between the Dominicans and the Society of Jesus for more than three centuries. Violdent controversies caused special assemblies to convene at Rome (1598-1607) but all efforts to appease both sides failed.

Molina inhis Concordia aimed at a unified conception of divine justice and mercy, foreknowledge and divine guidance, predestination and condemnation, and grace and human freedom.

The significance of his theory, basically simple, resided in its optimistic view of human nature allowing for the possibility of sufficient grace -grace made effective by the assent of the recipient´s will- and predestination in the expectation of the merits to be attained.

His originality lay in the reformulation of traditional views on divine knowledge.


MIGUEL DE MOLINOS

Born June 29, 1628 Muniesa Spain.
Died Dec. 28, 1696 Rome.

Priest condemned for advocating an extreme form of Quietism, a doctrine that came to be considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church.

It asserts, in general, that Christian perfection is achieved when the soul is in a passive state at which time is capable of being entered by the divine spirit.

Ordained in 1652 Molinos was sent (1663) to Rome where he became one of that city´s most esteemed spiritual directors. There in 1675 he published his Spiritual Guide a small handbook teaching that Christian pefection is achieved by a mixture of contemplation and divine assistance. He believed that men must banish their individual wills so that God´s will can work unhampered within them.

The Guide caused a sensation but in 1685 at the height of Molino´s influence and when his friend Innocent XI was pope he was arrested by the papal police, tried and sentenced to life imprisonment for heresy.

Because the doctrines that resulted in his condemnation cannot be found in the Guide this abrupt reversal of opinion is attributed to the discovery of personal immorality on the part of Molinos, the exact nature of which remains locked in the files of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Some 20,000 of his letters were examined, and he and numerous witnesses were interrogated, resulting in the condemnation (1687) by Innocent of 68 propositions embodying Molino´s doctrine. In the Summation of his trial he defended sexual aberrations committed by himself and his followers as sinless, purifying acts caused by the devil. He claimed they were passively allowed in order to deepen a quiet repose in God. Still he admitted being wrong and offered no further defense.

He died in prison.

His Summation is preserved in the Vallicellian Library in ROme and his letters are in the archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

P. Dudon´s Le Quiétiste espagnol Michel Molinos appeared in 1921.