Giles de Coninck

(Also called Regius).

Jesuit theologian, b. 20 Dec., 1571, at Bailleul in French Flanders; d. 31 May, 1633, at Louvain. At the age of twenty-one he entered the Society of Jesus. During his course of studies at Louvain he had Lessius among his professors, and became the worthy successor of his illustrious teacher in the chair of scholastic theology, which he held for eighteen years. St. Alphonsus considers Coninck a moral theologian of distinction. Though de Lugo impugned his views on many questions, he is acknowledged to have rendered considerable services to moral theology. His style is concise, clear, and direct: on several points his writings are exhaustive. Coninck’s principal works are:

• “Commentariorum ac disputationum in universam doctrinam D. Thomæ”, etc. (Antwerp, 1616; enlarged and revised 1619, 1624; Lyons 1619, 1624, 1625, 1643; Rouen, 1630. The last edition was among the Jesuit works condemned to be torn and burnt by an act of parliament of Rouen, 12 Feb., 1762).
• “De Moralitate, naturâ et effectibus actuum supernaturalium”. etc. (Antwerp, 1623; Lyons, 1623; Paris, 1624. The author is said to have left very ample additions intended to appear in the subsequent editions of the work. Father Müllendorff assures his readers that this treatise may be recommended to the theologians even of today).
• “Responsio ad dissertationem impugnantem absolutionem moribundi sensibus destituti”, etc. (Antwerp, 1625):
• Disputationes theolgicæ” (Antwerp, 1645, published posthumously, though finished twelve years before the author’s death).