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Juan Bautista de Lezana (23 November 1586 – 29 March 1659) was a SpanishCarmelite theologian. Lezana was an authority oncanon law,dogmatic theology, and philosophy; his historical works are not of the same standard.

Lezana was born atMadrid. He took the habit atAlberca, inOld Castile, on 18 October 1600, and made his profession at the house of the Carmelites of the Old Observance, at Madrid, in 1602. He studied philosophy atToledo, theology atSalamanca, partly at the college of the order, partly at the university underJuan Marquez, and finally atAlcalá underLuis de Montesion.

For some years he was employed as lecturer at Toledo and Alcalá, but having been sent to the general chapter of 1625 as delegate of his province, he remained in Rome as professor of theology. At the following chapter (1645), at which he assisted in the quality of titular provincial of Palestine, he obtained some votes for the generalship, but remaining in the minority he was nominated assistant general; for some years he also filled the office of procurator general.

In addition to these dignities within the order, he filled for sixteen years the chair of metaphysics at the Sapienza and became consultor to theCongregation of the Index underPope Urban VIII, and to that of Rites underPope Innocent X. Appointed to a bishopric, he requested a nun to recommend an important matter (the nature of which he did not disclose) to Our Lord^[who?] in prayer, and received through her the answer, which he acted upon, that it would be more perfect for him to refuse the dignity. He died in Rome.

His "Annals of the Carmelite Order" (four folio vols.) were published between 1645 and 1656, and there remained another volume in manuscript.

The following are his main works:

1. "Liber apologeticus pro Immaculata Conceptione" (Madrid, 1616).
2. "De regularium reformatione" (Rome, 1627), four times reprinted and translated into French, although it is doubtful whether the translation appeared in print.
3. "Summa quæstionum regularium", five vols., the first of which appeared in Rome (1637), the last in 1647, most of them were repeatedly reprinted.
4. Two works, "Columna immobilis", and "Turris Davidica", onOur Lady of the Pillar at Saragossa (1655 and 1656).
5. "Maria patrona" (Rome, 1648).
6. Life of St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, in Spanish (Rome, 1648).
7. "Summa theologiæ sacræ" (3 vols., Rome, 1651 sqq.).
8. "Consulta varia theologica" (Venice, 1656).

Also some less important works.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Juan Bautista de Lezana".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

• 1586 births
• 1659 deaths
• Carmelites
• 17th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians

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