Tomas de Lemos

At an early age he entered the Order of St. Dominic in his native town; he obtained, in 1590 the lectorate in theology and was at the same time appointed regent of studies in the convent of St. Paul at Valladolid.

The controversy aroused in 1588 by the publication of Luis Molina's work Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, between the Dominicans and Jesuits, had reached a heated and turbulent stage not only at Valladolid but also at Salamanca, Cordoba, Zaragoza, and other cities of Spain.

Disputations, both public and private, showed a tendency to drift away from the hitherto universally accepted teaching of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas.

For four years, in forty-seven public conferences, in the presence of Clement VIII and Pope Paul V, he defended the teaching of Aquinas with extraordinary skill against five adversaries, the élite of the great Jesuit theologians of the time.

Referring to this event he himself writes: At the conclusion of the commission, Pope Paul V and Philip III of Spain offered him a bishopric, but he declined the honour, preferring to remain in Rome in the convent Sopra Minerva to devote himself to literary work.