theological works against Protestant doctrine and ecclesiology.
Ledesma, Martin (d. ca. 1575), Dominican professor of theology at the University of Coimbra, pupil of Vitoria, and author of an influential commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sententiae.
Leo I (Leo the Great) (d. 461), pope and saint, author of numerous sermons to which Bellarmine often refers.
Leo Ostiensis (Marsicanus) (ca. 1045-1115), Benedictine monk and bishop of Ostia, author of a chronicle of the monastery of Monte Cassino.
Liberatus of Carthage (sixth century), author of an important anti-Nestorian work, Breviarium causae Nestorianorum.
Licinius, Galerius Valerius (ca. 260-325), Roman emperor, defeated by Constantine in 314.
Livy (Titus Livius) (59 B.C.-17 A.D.), one of the most influential Roman historians, thanks to his history of Rome from its foundation to his own days, Ab urbe condita. He was much admired during the Renaissance and subsequently, and the subject of Machiavelli’s Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio.
Louis IX (1214-70), king of France and saint, usually known as St. Louis.
Louis the Pious (778-840), king of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor.
Lucius (second century), semilegendary Christian king of Britain.
Marcellus of Ancyra (fourth century), bishop and great opponent of Arianism.
Marcian (d. 457), Eastern Roman Emperor from 450.
Marcion (second century), founder of the heretical sect of Marcionites. Rejecting the Old Testament, they believed that Jesus was not the son of the God of the ancient Covenant, but of the “good” God of the Gospel.
Marianus Scotus (ca. 1028-ca. 1082), Irish monk and author of a Chronicon covering the period from the beginning of the Christian era until 1082.
Martin of Tours (ca. 316-97), saint, bishop, and vigorous opponent of the Priscillian heresy.
Martinus of Lodi (Garatus) (mid-fifteenth century), professor in Pavia and Siena, author of several treatises on both civil and canon law.
Masson, Jean Papire (Papirius Massonius) (1544-1611), French historian and author of a history of France titled Annales, in four volumes, published in 1578, and a series of biographies of popes, De vitis Episcoporum urbis, censored by Bellarmine in 1592.
Matthew Paris (ca. 1200-ca. 1259), Benedictine monk, author of Chronica maiora, a history of the world from creation to the year of his death.
Mayron, Francis (ca. 1280-1327), Franciscan theologian, pupil of Duns Scotus, author of many theological treatises and a commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sententiae.
Mazzolini da Prierio, Silvestro (Sylvester Prierias) (ca. 1460-1523), Dominican theologian and Master of the Sacred Palace, author of an influential Summa Sylvestrina.
Melanchthon, Philip (1497-1560), one of Luther’s main collaborators and a well-known humanist scholar. He was the author of the Loci communes (1521), commonly considered the first systematic exposition of Lutheran theology. He also drafted the Augsburg Confession of 1530.
Miguel de Aninyon (Aniñón) (d. 1596), professor of law and author of the Tractatus de unitate ovilis et pastoris, published in 1578.
Molina, Luis de (1535-1600), Jesuit and one of the most important and controversial theologians of his day. His works include Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis (1588), which stirred the controversy de auxiliis; a commentary on several parts of Aquinas’s Summa; and De iustitia et iure, a classic text of neo-Thomist political and moral theology, only published in full posthumously.
Montserrat, Guillem (late fifteenth century), Catalan jurist and author of a historical work, De successione regum.
Nauclerus, Johannes (ca. 1425-1510), historian and jurist, author of a chronicle covering the period from the Creation to 1500 by generations.
Navarrus (Martin de Azpilcueta) (ca. 1491-1586), jurist and theologian, author of a series of commentaries on canon law and an influential manual for confessors, Manual de confessores y penitentes (1560).
Nestorius (fifth century), heresiarch and founder of Nestorianism, a heresy that implies some distinction between the divine Christ and the human Christ.
Netter, Thomas (Waldensis) (ca. 1370-1430), Carmelite friar, author of Doctrinale antiquitatum fidei catholicae against John Wyclif.
Nicephorus Callistus (late thirteenth century to early fourteenth century), Byzantine historian, author of Historia ecclesiastica, in eighteen books, covering until 610.
Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) (ca. 1401-64), philosopher and theologian. Initially he supported the conciliarist view but later changed his mind and accepted the office of papal legate (1440-47). In 1449 he was appointed a cardinal by Pope Nicholas V.
Nicholas of Lyra (ca. 1270-1340), Franciscan friar and biblical exegete. His Postillae represents a key reference for literal biblical exegesis.
Oecolampadius (Johann Heusegen) (1482-1521), Swiss reformer close to Zwingli’s position on the Eucharist and a gifted humanist scholar who collaborated with Erasmus on Erasmus’s edition of the New Testament.
Optatus of Milevis (fourth century), saint and bishop who vigorously opposed the Donatist heresy with a treatise written as a response to Parmenianus, the Donatist bishop of Carthage.
Origen, Adamantius (ca. 185-ca. 255), Father of the Church and important Neoplatonist interpreter of Christian doctrine, some of whose ideas were later declared heretical by the Christian Church. Origen’s works include De principiis, extensive commentaries on the Bible, and numerous homilies.
Otto I (Otto the Great) (912-73), Holy Roman Emperor.
Otto of Freising (ca. 1111-58), bishop and historian, author of a history of the world from creation to 1146 and of a history of Emperor Frederick I.
Panvinio, Onofrio (1530-68), monk of the Order of the Augustinian Hermits and author of numerous works, including a revision and continuation of Platina’s Liber de vita Christi et omnium pontificum.
Parmenianus (fourth century), Donatist leader, successor of Donatus as bishop of Carthage.
Paulus Aemilius Veronensis (Paolo Emilio da Verona) (ca. 1455-1529), Italian historian and author of a history of the French kings titled De rebus gestis Francorum, left unfinished.
Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon) (ca. 720-99), a Benedictine monk and historian. He was the author of the Historia gentis Longobardorum and Historia Romana, which run up to the time of Justinian.
Paulus Orosius (b. ca. 380-d. after 418), Christian apologist and historian. He wrote, among other works, a Historia adversus paganos that was supposed to complement Augustine’s De civitate Dei.
Pelagius (late fourth to early fifth centuries), founder of the heresy of Pelagianism, which denied that original sin had made it impossible for humans to attain salvation without grace, but assumed that even after Adam’s fall human will was perfectly capable of wanting and accomplishing good. Pelagianism
