VÁZQUEZ, FRANCISCO JAVIER

Peruvian Augustinian author; b. Cajamarca, Peru, 1703; d. Rome, Italy, Feb. 2, 1785. He joined the Augustinians in Lima, Peru, and completed his clerical education there. As a young priest, Vázquez accompanied his provincial to Rome, where he spent the greater part of his life, occupying various offices in the order. The prior general, Agostino Gioia, appointed him visitor to Mexico, but he was unable to carry out this mission because of the opposition of the Spanish government, whose displeasure Vázquez had incurred by his vigorous defense of the teachings of Cardinal Henry noris, then under attack by the Spanish Inquisition. When Gioia died in 1751, Vázquez became vicar-general. Two years later the general chapter in Bologna elected him prior general for life. Noteworthy among the activities of his long rule were his promotion of studies and his enrichment of the valuable collection in the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome (see rocca, angelo). Vázquez was involved in conflict with the Dominicans and especially with the Jesuits. These conflicts had their basis in the theological controversies that arose in the wake of Jansenism. Vázquez collaborated closely with the enemies of the Jesuits, both in Spain and in Rome, to accomplish the suppression of the Society of Jesus (1773).

Bibliography: a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico, 3 v. (Turin 1954–58) 3:1273. Analecta Augustiniana 13 (1929–30) 84–119. g. de santiago vela, Ensayo de una biblioteca ibero-americana de la orden de San Agustín, 7 v. in 8 (Madrid 1913–31) 8:108–123. e. dammig, Il movimento giansenista a Romanella seconda metà del secolo XVIII (Studi e Testi 119; 1945).

[a. j. ennis]