Louis of Granada

A brief biography.

Louis of Granada was born of very humble parentage in the city of the Alhambra, Granada,  as Louis de Sarria. 1504.
He was the man-servant of Duke Tendilla and got a change of study.

He joined the Dominicans in the priory Santa Cruz le Real in Granada in 1523.
With a mentality of the highest quality and the gift of unremitting application he united a profoundly spiritual character which promised a brilliant and fruitful career in the service of the Church.

He was chosen by his superiors to represent his priory at the College of St. Gregory at Valladolid, an institution of the Dominican Order reserved for students possessed of more than ordinary ability.
His studies completed, he at once entered upon the career of a preacher, in which he continued with extraordinary success during forty years.

At the request of the Cardinal Infante, Dom Henrique of Portugal, son of King Manuel, he was transferred to the latter country, where he became provincial of the Portuguese Dominicans in 1557, and was appointed  the confessor and counsellor of the queen regent. The Bishopric of Viseu and the Archbishopric of Braga were successively offered to him only to be courteously, but firmly, refused. The honours of the cardinal ate, offered to him by Pope Sixtus V, were also declined.

He died in the priory of de Dominicans in Lisbon on 31 December 1588.

Besides ascetical theology, his published works treat of Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography, and history.

The best known of his ascetical writings, and the one that achieved the greatest measure of success, is "The Sinner's Guide" (La Guia de Pecadores). This work was published at Badajoz in 1555. It is marked by a smooth, harmonious style of purest Spanish idiom. It has been most favourable compared with A Kempis's "Imitation of Christ". Within a comparatively short time after its first appearance it was translated into Italian, Latin, French, German, Polish, and Greek.

His "Memorial of the Christian Life" (Memorial de la vida christiana) is almost equally well known. In 1576 he published at Lisbon a Latin work on the principles of pulpit oratory (Rhetoricae Ecclesiasticae, sive de ratione concionandi).

Philately

Portrait of Louis of Granada (1504-31.12.1588)
by Amalio García del Moral, copy by Pacheco.

Spain 1988, Mi 2866, Sc 2590.
                   Postmark Granada 31.12.1988.

Contour of the cloister in Granada
and the signature of Louis of Granada
(1504-31.12.1588).

Spain 1988. Postmark Madrid 31.12.1988.

Return to   REGISTER A           Return to   HOMEPAGE