Luke Wadding | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 16 October 1588 |
| Died | 18 November 1657(1657-11-18) (aged 69) |
| Resting place | Sant'Isidoro a Capo le Case |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Parent(s) | Walter Wadding and Anastasia Wadding (née Lombard) |
| Alma mater | University of Coimbra |
| Known for | Annales Minorum |
| Occupation | friar and historian |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Order | Franciscan |
| Philosophy | Scotism |
Luke WaddingO.F.M. (16 October 1588 – 18 November 1657), was an IrishFranciscanfriar and historian.
Wadding was born on 16 October 1588 inWaterford to Walter Wadding of Waterford, a wealthy merchant,[1] and his wife, Anastasia Lombard (sister ofPeter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland).[1] Educated at the school of Mrs. Jane Barden in Waterford and of Peter White inKilkenny, in 1604 he went to study inLisbon and at theUniversity of Coimbra.[2]
After completing his university studies, Wadding became a Franciscan friar in 1607 and spent hisnovitiate atMatosinhos, Portugal. He was ordained priest in 1613 by João Manuel,Bishop of Viseu, and in 1617 he was made President of the Irish College at theUniversity of Salamanca, and Master of Students and Professor of Divinity.[1] The next year, he went to Rome as chaplain to the Spanish ambassador to thePapal States, Bishop Antonio Trejo de Sande, O.F.M. Wadding collected the funds for the establishment of theCollege of St. Isidore in Rome, for the education of Irish priests, opened 24 June 1625, with four lecturers -Anthony O'Hicidh of a famous literary family inThomond, Martin Breathnach fromDonegal,Patrick Fleming fromCounty Louth, andJohn Punch fromCork. He gave the college a library of 5,000 printed books and 800 manuscripts, and thirty resident students soon came. Wadding served asrector of the college for 15 years. From 1630 to 1634, he wasProcurator of the Order of Friars Minor at their headquarters in Rome, and ViceCommissary from 1645 to 1648. During the papal conclaves of 1644 and 1655, Wadding received votes to become pope, making him "as close as the church has come to having an Irish pope."[3][4]
Wadding was an enthusiastic supporter of the Irish Catholics during theIrish Confederate Wars, and his college became the strongest advocate of the Irish cause in Rome. (This spirit of patriotism originated by Wadding had a lasting impact, so that in the 19th century, Sir George Errington, who was sent by British prime ministerGladstone to explain the relation of English and Irish politics in Rome, reported that those Irish politicians thought most extreme in England were conservatives compared with the collegians of St. Isidore.)[5] Wadding sent officers and arms to Ireland, and inducedPope Innocent X to sendGiovanni Battista Rinuccini there.[5]
The Confederate Catholics petitionedPope Urban VIII to make Wadding acardinal, but he found ways to intercept the petition, and it remained in the archives of the college.[5]
Luke Wadding was an important art patron. He commissioned artworks for St. Isidore's church in Rome. The paintersAndrea Sacchi andCarlo Maratti were among the most famous artists commissioned by Wadding.[6]
Wadding died on 18 November 1657 at the age of 69 and is buried in the church of theCollege of San Isidore, in Rome. His life was written by Francis Harold, his nephew. The learned Franciscan friarBonaventura Baron was another nephew.[7]
Wadding founded thePontifical Irish College for Irishsecular clergy. In 1900, Wadding's portrait and part of his library were in the Franciscan friary on Merchant's Quay, Dublin. Through Wadding's efforts,St Patrick's Day became afeast day.[2] But it would take years for it to develop, taking until the 20th century for St. Patrick's Day parades to occur in his native Ireland, while the first organized celebration in America took place in the 18th century in cities like Boston and New York, and today occurs in faraway places like Russia and Japan.[3] Amid all the celebrations, most Irish today do not know about the "Waterford man who created St. Patrick's Day."[3]
Prior to the 1950s, when work began on a new critical edition, theWadding Edition of the works ofDuns Scotus was the most complete version of the thought of the Subtle Doctor available to scholars.[8] The work was compiled in 1639, when Wadding was in Rome, and updated in the 1890s.[9] Whilst containing a number of spurious works, as of 2021, with the new Vatican Edition of Scotus yet to be completed, the Wadding Edition remains an important and influential collection.
In the 1950s, a statue of Wadding byGabriel Hayes was erected on the Mall in Waterford, adjacent toReginald's Tower and one of the city's most prominent locations. The Waterford-born Franciscan's literary, academic and theological attributes were denoted by a quill pen held poised in the statue's right hand. More recently this statue was replaced by one ofThomas Francis Meagher. The figure of Luke Wadding was moved to a position at the entrance to theFrench Church, Waterford on Greyfriars.[10]
In 2000, theWaterford Institute of Technology dedicated a new library building to his name.[11]
A voluminous writer, his chief work was theAnnales Minorum in 8 folio volumes (1625–1654), re-edited in the 18th century and continued up to the year 1622; it is the classical work on Franciscan history. He also published aBibliotheca of Franciscan writers, an edition of the works ofDuns Scotus, and the first collection of the writings of StFrancis of Assisi.[5][12]
Wadding published a total of 36 volumes – fourteen at Rome, twenty-one atLyon, and one atAntwerp.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Butler, Edward Cuthbert (1911). "Wadding, Luke". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 226. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Moore, Norman (1899). "Wadding, Luke". InLee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 408–409.
Works by or aboutLuke Wadding atWikisource
