Petrus Thomae


Petrus Thomae, known in Catalan as Pere Tomàs or anglicized as Peter Thomae, was a Catalan Franciscan philosopher and theologian. He was an eminent Scotist who died while in prison on charges of sorcery.
File:Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Français 989, folio 3r.png|thumb|Presentation miniature from Le Deffenseur de l'Immaculée Conception de la glorieuse vierge Marie, Antoine de Lévis's French translation of Peter's Liber de originali Virginis conceptione, made for Joan, Duchess of Bourbon.

Life

Peter was born in Catalonia around 1280. He joined the Franciscans in the province of Santiago de Compostela. It is unknown where he was educated. The universities of Paris, Toulouse, Cambridge and Salamanca have all been suggested. He may have studied under John Duns Scotus. He does not appear to have finished his studies. John the Canon refers to him only as a bachelor.
Peter was a lecturer at the Franciscan school in Barcelona between 1314 and 1332. It was during this period that he wrote all his known works. In 1314, he took part in the investigation of Arnau de Villanova. In 1324–1325, he lectured at the University of Barcelona on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. In 1332, he left for Avignon to serve the Papacy as an abbreviator. He later served Pope John XXII as a penitentiary. In 1336, he was imprisoned at Noves on accusations of sorcery. He died in prison some time before 13 October 1340.

Works

Peter was a Scotist and a Formalist. According to custom, he was granted several scholastic epithets, including doctor strenuus, doctor invincibilis, doctor proficuus and doctor serenus. He is elsewhere praised as eximius doctor, egregius et subtilissimus vir and magnus scotista.

Philosophy

Peter's known philosophical works are:
  • Commentarium in primum librum Sententiarum
  • De esse intelligibili
  • De ente
  • Formalitates, in fact two related works:
  • *Formalitates breves, also called De distinctione praedicamentorum
  • *Formalitates conflatiles, also called De modis distinctionum or De modis distinctionis
  • Quodlibet
  • De unitate minori
  • Quaestiones in Metaphysicam Aristotelis
In addition, Peter refers in Quodlibet to a commentary on the second book of the Sentences, but it does not survive. The commentary on the first book, Commentarium in primum librum Sententiarum, is preserved only in a single very poor manuscript.
De distinctione praedicamentorum, or rather a version of the Formalitates intermediate between it and De modis distinctionis, was translated into Catalan. It is partially preserved in an Italian manuscript of the fifteenth or sixteenth century containing fourteen fragments written in Hebrew script.

Theology

Peter's known theological works are:
  • De divite christiano
  • Liber de originali Virginis conceptione, which goes by many names: Tractatus de conceptione Beatae Mariae Virginis, Liber de originali Virginis innocentia, Liber de originali innocentia virginis Mariae
De divite christiano is an "exegetico-moral work". The Liber de originali Virginis conceptione is dedicated to Archbishop John of Aragon. It was written between 1320, when the archbishop was consecrated, and 1327, when his father, King James II, died. It was submitted to John XXII.