Juan Tomas de Rocaberti

Juan Tomás de Rocaberti

Theologian, b. of a noble family at Perelada, in Catalina, c. 1624; d. at Madrid 13 June, 1699. Educated at Gerona he entered the Dominican convent there, receiving the habit in 1640. His success in theological studies at the convent of Valencia secured for him the chair of theology in the university. In 1666he was chosen provincial of Aragon, and in 1670 the General Chapter elected him general of the order. He became endeared to all who came in contact with him. No one, perhaps, held him in greater esteem than Clement X. The celebrated Dominican Contenson dedicated to him his "Theologia mentis el cordis". He obtained the canonization of Sts. Louis Bertrand and Rose of Lima, the solemn beatification of Pius V, and the annual celebration in the order of the feast of Bl. Albert the Great and others. In 1676 he was appointed by Charles II first Archbishop of Valencia and then governor of that province. In 1695 he was made inquisitor-general of Spain.

Rocaberti is best known as an active apologist of the papacy against Gallicans and Protestants. His first work in the sense was "De Romani poniticis auctoritate" (3 vols., Valentia, 1691-94). His most important work is the "Bibliotheca Maxima Pontificia" (21 vols., Rome, 1697-00). In this monumental work the author collected and published in alphabetical order, and in their entirety, all the important works dealing with the primacy of the Holy See from an orthodox point of view, beginning with Abraham Bzovius and ending with Zacharias Boverius. An excellent summary is given in Hurter's "Nomenclator".

QUETIF-ECHARD, Script. ord. Prad., II (Paris, 1721), 630,827; TOURON, Hist. des hom. Ill. De l'ordre Dom., V (Paris, 1748), 714-26; HURTER, Nomenclator, II: Année Dominicaine, XIII, 785.

H.J. SCHROEDER