Thomas de Vio Cajetan (1469–1534)

Abstract Although a papalist and a Thomist who opposed Luther in 1518, Tommaso de Vio (Cardinal Cajetan) proposed later in his life a type of biblical hermeneutics which was less inspired by Counter-Reformation than by a humanist textual criticism and a strict orientation towards the literal sense of Scripture. Cajetan’s criticism of the Vulgate, of traditional patristic exegesis, and of ecclesiastical precepts not founded on the literal meaning of Scripture found a direct, if not explicit, rejection by the Council of Trent. But ultimately his exegetical works escaped censuring and expurgation. In 1639, the Spanish Dominicans of Alcala, seat of the famous Universitas Complutense, decided to republish Cajetan’s commentaries in five volumes at Lyons, outside the reach of the Spanish Inquisition. In the form of the Alcala opera omnia, Cajetan’s exegesis continued to exert influence in Catholicism and beyond well into the twentieth century.