Two Augustinians and their point of view on Povery and Alms in the Spanish Empire on the Middle of 16th. Century
Saint Thomas of Villanova in Valencia and Fray Lorenzo of Villavicencio in Bruges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54571/ajee.493Keywords:
Poverty, poor people, almsgiving, Charles I/V, Philip II, Saint Thomas of Villanova, Luis Vives, Gilles Wyts, Valencia, Bruges, Lorenzo de VillavicencioAbstract
In the mid-16th century, a well-known controversy arose among important theologians and thinkers on the subject of poverty, the poor and almsgiving. Some argued that the solution to the problem was an affair of State (vision of the new times); the other group argued that the subject was a matter of the Church (medieval vision). In this work the visions of two Augustinians are studied: on the one hand, that of Saint Thomas of Villanova, archbishop of Valencia (1544-1555), who faces the problem from the practical point of view of helping the poor of the city. On the other, the thought of Fray Lorenzo de Villavicencio, who censures in his work (1564) the doctrine that Gilles Wyts, member of the council of Bruges (1510-1580), had upheld in his publication, inspired by the oldest book by Luis Vives. Lorenzo also criticizes the text that the Senate of Bruges had finished preparing on how to organize aid to the poor of the city.
