Lemos, Tomás de
LEMOS, TOMÁS DE
Theologian; b. Rivadavia, Spain, c. 1546; d. Rome, Aug. 23, 1629. With Diego Álvarez, De Lemos was chosen to represent officially the Dominican position in the dispute over the nature of efficacious grace. A papal commission had voted to censure 61 propositions in Luis de molina's Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis. Since subsequent efforts at reconciling the two positions had proven futile, Clement VIII (d. 1605) brought the Jesuit defendants and their accusers face to face. Clement VIII and Leo XI (d. 1605) died without reaching a decision. Under Paul V (d. 1621) the cardinals voted to condemn 42 propositions of Molina, but no final decision was ever reached. Throughout the discussion Tomás de Lemos made a trenchant presentation of the Augustinian-Thomistic position. At the close of the dispute, he refused a bishopric offered him through the King of Spain and retired to the Roman priory of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
His part in the 47 discussions was subsequently published in the Acta omnia congregationum ac disputationum (Louvain 1702). His own famous work Panopolia gratiae (4 v., Liége 1676) was attacked by the Inquisition but vigorously defended by the Dominicans.
Bibliography: j. quÉtif and j. Échard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum (New York 1959) 2.1:461–464. m. d. chenu, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al. (Paris 1903–50) 9.1:210–211.
[w. d. hughes]