ANTOLÍNEZ, AGUSTÍN

Augustinian theologian; b. Valladolid, Castile, Dec. 6, 1554; d. June 19, 1626. Antolínez was a professor of theology at Valladolid and at Salamanca and became bishop-elect of Ciudad Rodrigo in 1623 and archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in 1624. He left a number of theological treatises in manuscript and published lives of St. John of Sahagún and St. Clare of Montefalco. His pious commentary on the strophes of the Spiritual Canticle of St. john of the cross—Amores de Dios y el Alma —has in recent times emerged from oblivion because of its bearing on the critical problem of the works of the Mystical Doctor.

In 1922 P. Chevallier, OSB, arguing against the authenticity of the second redaction of the Spiritual Canticle, stated that it made use of the commentary by Antolínez. In 1948 J. Krynen published a voluminous study in support of this position. Neither author, however, established the contention, for a careful comparison of the two redactions of the Spiritual Canticle with the Amores provides evidence that Antolínez had before his eyes the text of the second Canticle in the form of a transcription revised by John of the Cross himself. It is probable that this text had been left to Antolínez by his equally distinguished confrere, Luis de León.

The possession by the Augustinians of an unquestionably authentic text of St. John of the Cross, quite different from that which the Carmelites, for good reasons, intended to edit, and the transmission to the Carmelites of this text and that of the Amores after the death of Antolínez suggest answers to a number of vexing questions in the history of the works of John of the Cross. In particular this helps to explain why Antolínez and later the Carmelites did not wish the Amores to be published and why the Augustinians were willing to make no claim on behalf of Antolínez.

Bibliography: a. c. vega, Fray A. Antolínez: Amores de Dios y el Alma (Madrid 1956), with app. by m. ledrus, "L'Incidence de l'Exposición d'Antolínez sur le problème textuel johannicrucien." p. chevallier, "Le Cantique spirituel a-t-il été interpolé?" Bulletin Hispanique 24 (1922) 307–342. j. krynen, Le Cantique spirituel de s. Jean de la Croix commenté et refondu au XVII ^e siècle (Salamanca 1948). j. de jesÚs-maria, "El 'Cantico espiritual' de San Juan de la Cruz y 'Amores de Dios y el Alma' de A. Antolinez, O.S.A.," Ephemerides Carmeliticae 3 (1949) 443–542. i. gonzalez marcos, "Datos para una biografía de Agustín Antolínez OSA," Revista Agostiniana 30 (1989).

[m. ledrus]