Govierno Eclesiastico pacifico y union de los dos cuchillos Pontificio y Regio. Compuesto por el Illmo Señor Don Fr. Gaspar de Villarroel, del Orden de nueftro Padre San Auguftin, del Confejo de su Magestad, Obispo de las Iglesias de Santiago de Chile.

2 Volumes. [51]+812 pages; [11]+732 pages. Folio (12 1/4" x 8 3/4") bound in leather with raised bands and red label with gilt lettering to spine. First published in 1656-7 (Madrid), Domingo Garcia Morras. This is the second edition.

Fray Gaspar de Villarroel joined the order of Saint Augustine in 1607 and occupied a chair of Theology at the University of San Marcos, where he published biblical commentaries and sermons. He was bishop of Santiago, Chile, from 1638 to 1652. He wrote his principal work in Chile, the Govierno eclesiastico pacifico, which describes the different functions of Church and State and includes a wealth of historical information concerning the Spanish American world, (including an extensive description of the disastrous earthquake of 1647). When discussing controversial issues such as polygamy and cannibalism among the Araucan Indians, bishop Villarroel examined different points of view and reached surprisingly tolerant conclusions while also displaying a curious cultural relativism. The Govierno eclesiastico and the Politica Indiana by Solorzano Pereira are the two most important books on canon law and jurisprudence in colonial America. His first work, Comentario sobre el Cantar de los Cantares, was lost before it could be published. Between 1631 and 1633, Villarroel published his first theological treatise, Comentarios, dificultades y discursos literales y místicos sobre los Evangelios de la Cuaresma. In 1636, a year before his elevation to the bishopric, he published Comentarios al libro de los Jueces. Between 1656 and 1657 he published his most important work, a reconciliation of monarchical and pontifical authority titled Gobierno Eclesiástico-Pacífico y Unión de los Dos Cuchillos Pontificio y Regio. Villarroel returned to theology in his last two works, Historias Sagradas y Eclesiá sticas Morales, con Quince Misterios de nuestra fe (1660) and Primera parte de los comentarios, dificultades, y discursos literales, morales y místicos, sobre los Evangelios de los Domingos de Adviento, y de los todo el año (1661).

Condition:

Worming to volume I mainly in the gutter margin of the index, occasionally affecting text. Volume II worming more extensive occasionally affecting text. Leather boards scuffed, spine ends chipped. A good copy of a rare work on colonial America.