Alphonso de Spina
Alphonso de Spina (unknown date of birth – in or about 1491) was a Spanish Franciscan Catholic Bishop, preacher and writer. He was the author of Fortalitium Fidei, a treatise on arguments to be used to oppose detractors of Catholicism.
Biography
Thought by many to be a convert from Judaism, Alphonso de Spina was for many years superior of the House of Studies of the Friars Minor at Salamanca, Spain and in 1491 was created Bishop of Thermopylae in Greece. Recent scholarship suggests that Alphonso was not a converted Jew (converso).[1]
Fortalitium
He was a man of great learning and attained considerable renown as a preacher, but his chief claim to fame is being the author of Fortalitium Fidei (aka Fortalitium).
The Fortalitium was written in 1458, but it was added to by de Spina at different times up to the year 1485. The first edition was issued about 1464-76; the edition published at Nuremberg in 1485 begins thus:
Incipit prohemium Fortalitii Fidei conscriptum per quendam Doctorem eximium ordinis minorum anno MCCCCLIX in partibus occidentis (Here begins the introduction to "Fortalitium Fidei" (Fortress of Faith) written by a certain distinguished teacher of the Order of Friars Minor in the year 1459).
The fact that the Fortalitium appeared anonymously gave rise to some difference of opinion as to its authorship. However, most modern scholars attribute it to Alfonso de Spina[citation needed]. The Fortalitium Fidei is a treatise on various types of arguments to be used by preachers and others to oppose detractors of Catholicism. It is divided into five[2] books: the first directed against those who deny the divinity of Jesus; the second against "heretics"; the third against the Jews; the fourth, against Muslims; the fifth gives instructions on the battle against the devil. In this last book de Spina dwells at length upon the demons and their hatred of men; the powers they have over men and the diminution of these powers, owing to the victory of Christ on the Cross, the final condition of the demons, and so on.
Other works
Alfonso de Spina published at least three other works:
- Sermones de Nomine Jesu Vigintiduos, issued about 1454 (which has been erroneously confounded with the Fortalitium by at least one noted Catholic scholar[who?]);
- Sermones plures de excellentia nostræ fidei, preached in 1459; and
- A treatise on fortune, dedicated to John I of Castile (1404–1454).
In The Complete Book of Devils and Demons[3] Leonard R. N. Ashley says that Alphonso de Spina is quoted as stating that the total number of angels who sided with Lucifer's revolt was 133,306,668,[4] a figure, Ashley remarks, so precise that one hardly knows what to say; he adds that the Book of Enoch puts the number at 200.[5]
References
- ^ Steven J. McMichael, Was Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah? Alphonso de Espina's Argument against the Jews in the Fortalitium Fidei (c. 1464) (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994).
- ^ Ginio, Alisa Meyuhas (1990). "The conversos and the magic arts in Alonso de Espina's fortalitium Fidei". Mediterranean Historical Review. 5 (2): 169–182. doi:10.1080/09518969008569595.
- ^ Leonard R. N. Ashley. "The Complete Book of Devils and Demons", ISBN 1-56980-077-4
- ^ Levack, Brian P. (2006). The Witch-hunt in Early Modern Europe. Pearson Longman. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-582-41901-8.
- ^ The Complete Book of Devils and Angels, p. 72
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia article on Alphonso de Spina
- Alfonso de Spina on Sacred Warfare
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Alphonso de Spina". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Articles with short description
- All articles with unsourced statements
- Articles with unsourced statements from February 2007
- All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases
- Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from September 2011
- Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference
- Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference
- AC with 0 elements
- 1491 deaths
- History of the conversos
- 15th-century Castilian Jews
- 15th-century Castilian Roman Catholic priests
- Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
- Conversos
- Year of birth unknown
- University of Salamanca alumni
- University of Salamanca faculty