Martinus Becanus (6 January 1563 – 24 January 1624) was a Dutch-born

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest, known as a theologian and controversialist.

Life

He was born ''Maarten Schellekens'' in

Hilvarenbeek Hilvarenbeek () is a municipality and a town in the south of the Netherlands, along the border with Belgium. The biggest tourist attraction is called Beekse Bergen, consisting of a safari park, amusement park/playground, holiday bungalow park, an ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

;

Schellekens Schellekens is a Dutch language, Dutch (mostly patronymic surname, patronymic) surname. ''Schelleken'' was a diminutive of Germanic names like Schalk and Gottschalk, Godschalk (=God's servant) in North Brabant. Dutch surnames similarly derived are S ...

is a

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

and he adopted a Latinized form of the surname Van (Hilvaren)Beek. He entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

on 22 March 1583, and taught

Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

for twenty-two years at

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

, and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He died in

, where he was the confessor to the

Emperor Ferdinand II Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, Hungary, and List of Croatian monarchs, Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II, Archduke of Austr ...

Works

Becanus is the author of some 37 books, most of them works of polemics. *He developed the art of controversy and taught it in his book: ''Manuale controversiarum huius temporis'' published in Wurzburg (1623), that went into more than 50 editions (in the shortened version until the late 18th century). *In ''De fide haereticis servanda (1607)'' he defended against the opinion of Panormitanus the view that Protestants and Catholics should observe contracts concluded between one another due to

natural law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...

. *Another book had much success: ''Analogia veteris et novi Testamenti''. *He supported

Cardinal Bellarmine Robert Bellarmine (; ; 4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621) was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 37. He was one of the most important figures ...

in the major

allegiance oath controversy The Oath of Allegiance of 1606 was an oath requiring English Catholics to swear allegiance to James I over the Pope. It was adopted by Parliament the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (see Popish Recusants Act 1605). The oath was proclaimed l ...

with

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...

, publishing six books in the period 1610 to 1613, one against

William Tooker William Tooker (or Tucker) (Exeter, 1557 or 1558 – 19 March 1621) was an English churchman and theological writer, who was archdeacon of Barnstaple and later dean of Lichfield. Life Born at Exeter in 1557 or 1558, he was the third son of ...

and another being directed at

Lancelot Andrewes Lancelot Andrewes (155525 September 1626) was an English bishop and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop of Chi ...

. At the time he was based in

; he was brought into the front line of the discussion of Bellarmine's ''Apologia'' by Attileo Amalteo, the nuncio at Cologne.Peter Godman, ''The Saint as Censor: Robert Bellarmine between inquisition and index'' (2000), p. 203. Among numerous other works was his ''Summa Theologiae Scholasticae.''

References

''Scholasticon'' page
* (in german)

Werner Raupp Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...

: Art. Becanus (Bécan, Verbee , Van der Bee ; Schellekens, Scell-), Martinus (Martin). In: Frühe Neuzeit in Deutschland 1620–1720. Literaturwissenschaftliches Verfasserlexikon (VL 17), Vol. 1, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2019, Cols. 481–502 (with detailed Bibliography). * W. Decock (ed.), I. Buhre (transl.), T. Dienst/Ch. Strohm (introd.),
Martinus Becanus. On the Duty to Keep Faith with Heretics
', Sources in Early Modern Economics, Ethics and Law, Grand Rapids, 2019, .

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Becanus, Martin 1563 births 1624 deaths 17th-century Dutch Jesuits 16th-century Dutch Roman Catholic theologians People from Hilvarenbeek 16th-century Dutch Jesuits