Martin Becanus

Martinus Becanus (6 January 1563 – 24 January 1624) was a Dutch-born Jesuit priest, known as a theologian and controversialist.

He was born Maarten Schellekens in Hilvarenbeek in North Brabant; Schellekens is a patronymic and he adopted a Latinized form of the surname Van (Hilvaren)Beek. He entered the Society of Jesus on 22 March 1583, and taught Theology for twenty-two years at Würzburg, Mainz, and Vienna.^[1]

He died in Vienna, where he was the confessor to the Emperor Ferdinand II.

Becanus is the author of some 37 books, most of them works of polemics.

• He developed the art of controversy and taught it in his book : Manuale controversiarum huius temporis published in Wurzburg (1623), that went into more than 50 editions (in the shortened version until the late 18th century).^[2]
• In De fide haereticis servanda (1607) he defended against the opinion of Panormitanus the view that Protestants and Catholics should observe contracts concluded between one another due to natural law.^[3]
• Another book had much success: Analogia veteris et novi Testamenti.
• He supported Cardinal Bellarmine in the major allegiance oath controversy with James I of England, publishing six books in the period 1610 to 1613, one against William Tooker and another being directed at Lancelot Andrewes. At the time he was based in Mainz; he was brought into the front line of the discussion of Bellarmine's Apologia by Attileo Amalteo, the nuncio at Cologne.^[4][5]

Among numerous other works was his Summa Theologiae Scholasticae.

• (in French) Scholasticon page
• (in german) Werner Raupp: Art. Becanus (Bécan, Verbee[c]k, Van der Bee[c]k; Schellekens, Scell-), Martinus (Martin). In: Frühe Neuzeit in Deutschland 1620–1720. Literaturwissenschaftliches Verfasserlexikon (VL 17), Vol. 1, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2019, Cols. 481–502 (with detailed Bibliography).
• W. Decock (ed.), I. Buhre (transl.), T. Dienst/Ch. Strohm (introd.), Martinus Becanus. On the Duty to Keep Faith with Heretics, Sources in Early Modern Economics, Ethics and Law, Grand Rapids, 2019, ISBN 978-1-949011-04-3.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Martin Becan". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.