GONSALO
635
gonzAlez
Journal des Scnmns (Amsterdam, 1713), XIV, 181-82;
Mcmoires pour rfJistoire des Sciences el des beatuc Arts (Trevoux,
1713). Art. cxvi. LI. 1403-04; Calmet. Bibliolheque Lorraine
(Nancy, 1751). 31S: Barbier, Dictionnaire des Anonyrnes, 2nd
ed. (Paris. 1S23). II. 160. 163 sqq.; Brunet, Manuel du Lib-
mire (Paris. 1S62). III. 426; Patouiujit, Dictionnaire des
lirres janscnistes (17.52), preface.
P. J. MacAuley.
Gonsalo Garcia, Saint. See Garcia, Gonsalo, Saint.
Gonzaga, Ercoi.e (Hercules), cardinal ; b. at Mantua, 23 November, 1505; d. 2 March, 1563. He was the son of tlie Marquess Francesco, and nephew of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga (1409-1525). He studied philosophy at Bologna under Pomponazzi, and later took up theology. In 1520, or as some say, 1525, his uncle Sigismondo renounced in his favour the See of Mantua; in 1527 his mother IsabeUa brought him back from Rome the insignia of the cardinalate. Notwithstanding his youth, he showed great zeal for church reform, especially in his own diocese; and in this he received help and encouragement from his friend Cardinal Giberti, Bishop of Verona. His mode of life was stainless and a manuscript work of his, "VitiP Christiana' institutio", bears witness to his piety. He published a Latin catechism for the use of the priests of his diocese and built the diocesan semi- nary, thus carrying out reforms urged by the Council of Trent, as his friends Contarini, Giberti, Caraffa, and other bishops had done or were doing, even before the council had assembled. His charit\' was im- bounded, and many young men of talent and genius had their university expenses paid bj- him. The popes employed him on many embassies, e. g. to Charles V in 1530. Because of his prudence and his business-like methods, he was a favourite with the popes, with Charles V, and Ferdinand I, and with the Kings of France, Francis I and Henry II. From 1540 to 1550 he was guardian to the j-oung sons of his brother Federico II who had dietl, and in their name he gov- erned the Duchy of Mantua. The elder of the boys, Francesco, ilied in 1550 and was succeeded by his brother (Juglielmo. In the conclave of 1559 it was thought he would certainly be made pope; but the cardinals would not choose as pope a scion of a ruling house. In 1501 Pius IV named him legate to the Council of Trent, for which he had from the beginning laboured by every means at his command, moral and material. In its early stages, on-ing to the fact that not a few considered he was in favour of Communion tmder both kinds, he met with many difficulties, and interested motives were attributed to him. Kothing but the express wish of the pope could have persuaded him to remain at his post, and the energy he displayed was imwearied. He contracted fever at Trent, where he died, attended by Father Lainez. His benefac- tions to the Jesuit college at Mantua and to the Monte di Pieta were very great, and his letters are invaluable to the historian of that period.
CiACONius. Vita- Ponlificum (Rome. 1677); Catalani. Vita del Card. Gomaga (Mantua, 1564); Pastor, Gesch. der Pdpste, Y. U. Benigxi.
Gonzaga, Scipione, cardinal; b. at Mantua, 11 November, 1542; d. at San Martino. 11 Januarj', 1593. He belonged to tlie family of the Dukes of Sabbioneta, passed his youth under the care of Cardinal Ercole (Hercules) Gonzaga, and made rapid progress in Greek and Latin studies. At Bologna, and later at Padua, he studied mathematics and philosophy, and, in the latter city, founded the Accademia degli Eterei, or Academy of the Ethereals. Throughout his life he patronized literature and men of letters, among the latter being Tasso. who sought his advice concerning his " Gerusalemme Liberata . and Guarino. who dedi- cated to him his " Pastor Fido". Having finished his theological studies he went to Rome, became came- riere negreto to Pius IV, and was ordained priest. In the early years of the reign of Gregory XIII Gon-
zaga Tiad a serious lawsuit with the Duke of Mantua
over some property, but they were soon reconciled.
Through the Ciuise party, whose cause he had aided,
he became Bishop of Mende in France, but Charles,
Duke of Guise, pleaded unsuccessfully with Gregory
XIII to have him made cardinal. Sixtus V, imme-
diately on his elevation, appointed him Patriarch of
Jerusalem, and in 1587, at the request of the Duke of
Mantua, raised him to the cardinalate. Sixtus also
made constant use of his services in the execution of
his policies, domestic and foreign. Cardinal Gonzaga
was a friend of Saint Charles Borromeo and Saint
Philip Neri, and his cousin Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
owed him the eventual consent of his father to his
entering the Society of Jesus. For a time Cardinal
Gonzaga was governor of the Marquessate of Monfer-
rato in the name of the Marquess ^'incenzo. The
three books of his "Commentarii", written in pol-
ished Latin, are an important source of information
for the historj- of his cardinalate. He was buried in
the church of St. Sebastian at Rome. His "Com-
mentarii" were edited at Rome in 1791 by Marotti.
Cardell-4, Memorie storiche de' Cardinali (Rome. 1792), 273.
U. Benigni.
Gonzalez de Santalla, Thyrsus, theologian and thirtceiitli general of the Society of Jesus; b. at Aiganila. Spain, IS Januarj', 1624; d. at Rome, 27 October, 17U5. He entered the Society of Jesus 3 March. 1643, and taught philosophy and theolog}' at Salamanca from 1655 to 1005 and from 1676 to 1687, the intervening yeare ha\'ing been devoted to preach- ing. When about to set out for Africa to convert the Mussulmans in 1687, he was sent as elector to the thir- teenth general congregation, by which he was chosen general, 6 July, 1687. As au ardent adversary of probabilism Gonzalez had frequently asked his su- periors to have some Jesuit WTite against the doctrine. He himself had composed a work in which he defended probabiliorism, assigning, however, an exaggerated importance to the .subjective estimation of the degree of probability. The general revisers of the Society unanimously rendered an unfavourable opinion on the work, and accordingly, in 1674, Father-General Oliva refused permission for its publication. Gonzalez received encouragement from Innocent XI. who had become pope in 1676, and by his order the Holy Office issued a decree, in 1680, ordering the superiors of the Society to allow their subjects to defend probabilior- ism, a permission that had never been denied. As general of the Society, Cionzalez thought himself obliged to fight probabilism among his subjects. In 1601, he had printed at Dillingen a modified edition of his former work, but, omng to the efforts of his assis- tants, this book was never published. Innocent XII ordered a new examination of it to be made, and w'ith many corrections it finally appeared, in 1694, under the title "Fundamentum theologi* moralis — de recto usu opinionum probabilium" at Rome (three editions), Antwerp, DiUingen, Paris, Cologne, etc., and again at Antwerp, in 1695. Migne has reproduced it in his "Cursus Theologia?", XI. Bossuet said that nothing more formidable had ever been wTitten against prob- abilism, and St. Alphonsus Liguori found in it an exaggeration of rigorist tendencies.
We also have from the pen of Gonzalez some apolo- getical works: "Selectarum disputationum tomi quat- tuor" (Salamanca. 1680), in which are found chapters against the Thomists, Jansenius. and some doctors of Lou vain; treatises on the Immaculate Conception, and on papal infallibility. This last, directed against the Assembly of the Clergj' of France in 1682, and printed by order of Innocent XI, was afterwards suppressed by Alexander VIII, who feared new diffi- culties with the French court. This work appeared, in resume only, at Barcelona, in 1691.
De Backer and Sommervogel, Bibl, des ecrivains de la
