Fray Luis de Granada (Luis de Sarriá, Granada 1508 – Lisbon 1588) was probably the most renowned spiritual writer of the Spanish Golden Age. His works have been translated into practically all European languages and there are more than 4000 catalogued editions of his books. He has also been translated into Chinese, Arabic, Japanese and Tagalog.
His very broad culture and the perfection of his literary style undoubtedly place him among the creators of humanism and the protagonists of the Spanish Renaissance.
Of humble origin, he joined the Dominican order at the age of 17 and at 42 crossed from Spain to Portugal where he would remain until the end of his days, perhaps to avoid the investigations of the Spanish Inquisition which appeared to seek to find Protestant and Erasmist influences in his writings.
He became provincial of the Dominicans in Portugal and confessor to King Enrique and Queen Catalina, renouncing the episcopate twice.
He wrote in Spanish, Latin and Portuguese, and it is precisely in the latter language that he published the Compendium of Christian Doctrine and the Thirteen Sermons, with the aim, no doubt, of being more accessible to the public to whom these works were addressed and which, as the author himself points out, “are the rustic and popular people, who are all their lives without light, without doctrine and without hearing the word of God, which is like living in darkness and in the region of the shadow of death”. The first edition was financed by Dona Catalina de Austria, Queen of Portugal.
The Compendium is a treatise that aims to summarise the essence of Christianity in the years preceding the publication of the Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566) and is organised in three parts: the Dogmas contained in the Creed, a recapitulation of Christian morality in the Ten Commandments and capital sins, and finally a reflection on prayer and the sacraments.
The Thirteen Sermons, published as an appendix to the Compendium, although with separate foliation, constitute the original thought of Friar Luis and are configured as homilies to be read each one in half an hour, whose function is the formation of the Christian believers in the main mysteries of Christianity from a practical, spiritual and moral point of view, with a direct, colloquial and friendly style.
Octavo (18.5 x 15), pp. [6] 1-174 pages [2], plus another 54 pp. Very good 19th century binding. Palau 107874