Luke Wadding

Luke Wadding (1588-1657)

Wadding was born in Waterford and gained a basic education there before entering the Irish seminary at Lisbon, where he was taught by the Jesuits.  After six months he left to enter the novitiate of the Franciscans in a convent near Oporto, and in 1605 was sent to Leyria to specialise in Scotist philosophy.  He read theology at Lisbon and Coimbra, before continuing his studies at Salamanca.  He was ordained a priest in 1613, and filled the post of professor in Salamanca until 1618, at which part he was appointed to an embassy to Paul V to promote the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.  Remaining in Rome thereafter, he established the College of St Isidore’s in 1625 for young Irish Franciscans at Rome, and in 1628 he established the Ludovisian College in Rome for Irish secular priests.  Wadding was influential in gaining support and finance for the Catholic nunciate in Ireland during the Confederation, and his diplomatic engagements across Europe were complex and significant.  He moved in the most influential circles at Rome, and was frequently recommended for bishoprics and to be made a Cardinal; he resolutely refused all such proposals, even suppressing documents that urged his elevation.  Purely at the literary level, as chronologer of his Order, critical editor of Franciscan and Scotist works, and patron of Irish scholarship and education in general, Wadding was a figure of immense importance.



1.         Luke Wadding and Manoel Rodrigues, Summa Casuum Conscientiae, (Douai, 1614), Quarto.

2.         "De Hebraice Linguae Origine, Praestantia et Utilitate," in Mariu-Calasius' Hebrew Concordances of the Holy Scriptures (Rome, 1621), The author of the main work died and Wadding petitioned Paul V to ensure its publication, appending this treatise of his own.

3.         B.P. Francisci Assisiatis Opuscula Nunc Primum Collecta, Notis et Commentariis Asceticis Illustrata, (Antwerp, 1623), Quarto.

4.         Illustre Martyrium Quatuordecim Fratrum Minorum Regularis Observantiae Ab Haereticis Pragae Bohemiae Pro Fide Catholica Occisorum (Vienna, 1624), Quarto.

5.            Legatio Philippi III et IV, Catholicorum Hispaniae Regum Ad SS DD NN Paulum V et Gregorium XV et Urbanum VIII Pro Definienda Controversia Conceptionis B. Mariae Virginis Per Illustriss et Reverendiss Dom D.Fr. Antonium a Trejo, Episopo Carthaginensium.. Continens Exactissime Omnia in Hac Materia Desideranda Ac Consideranda, Qua Theologica, Qua Historica, (Louvain, 1624), Folio.

6.         S Antonii de Padua Concordantiae Morales Sacrorum Bibliorum Quibus Accessit Egregium Proptuarium S Scripturae, ed. Luke Wadding (Rome, 1624), Quarto.

7.            Annales Minorum, in Quibus Res Omnes Trium Ordinum a S Francisco Institutorum Ex Fide Ponderiosus Asseruntur, Calumniae Rebelluntur, Praeclara Quaeque Munumenta Ab Oblivione Vendicantur, (Lyons, 1625), Folio.

8.            Apologeticus de Praetensio Monachatu Augustinano Sancti Francisci in Quo Deleguntur, et Rebelluntur Varii Errares Ex Hoc una Controversia Exanti, (Madrid, 1625), Quarto.

9.            Annales Minorum, in Quibus Res Omnes Trium Ordinum a S Francisco Institutorum Ex Fide Ponderiosus Asseruntur, Calumniae Rebelluntur, Praeclara Quaeque Munumenta Ab Oblivione Vendicantur Tomus Secundus (Lyons, 1628), Folio.

10.            Disputationes Morales in Tres Bullas Apostolicas, Cruciatae Defunctorum et Compositiones, ed. Luke Wadding (Lyons, 1634), Quarto.

11.            Annales Minorum, in Quibus Res Omnes Trium Ordinum a S Francisco Institutorum Ex Fide Ponderiosus Asseruntur, Calumniae Rebelluntur, Praeclara Quaeque Munumenta Ab Oblivione Vendicantur Tomus Tertius (Lyons, 1635), Folio.

12.            Tractatus de Incarnatione (Antwerp, 1636), Quarto.

13.       Vita et Res Gestae B Petri Thomae Aquitani Ex Ordine B Mariae Virginis a Monte Carmelo, Patriarchae Constantinopolitani et Sedis Apostolicae Legati (Lyons, 1637), Octavo.

14.            Annales Minorum, in Quibus Res Omnes Trium Ordinum a S Francisco Institutorum Ex Fide Ponderiosus Asseruntur, Calumniae Rebelluntur, Praeclara Quaeque Munumenta Ab Oblivione Vendicantur Tomus Quartus (Lyons, 1638), Folio.

15.       Luke Wadding, Maurice O'Fihely, Hugh MacCaghwell and Anthony Hickey, R.P.F. Johannis Duns Scoti..Opera Omnia..Scholiis et Commentariis Illustrata a P.P. Hibernis Collegii Romani S. Isadori Professoribus, ed. Wadding et al. (Lyons, 1639), Folio.

16.       Vita et Res Gestae B. Jacobi Piceni, Per Johan Baptist Petruccium Scripta.  Notis et Commentariis Illustravit L. Waddingus, ed. Luke Wadding (Lyons, 1641), Quarto.

17.            Annales Minorum, in Quibus Res Omnes Trium Ordinum a S Francisco Institutorum Ex Fide Ponderiosus Asseruntur, Calumniae Rebelluntur, Praeclara Quaeque Munumenta Ab Oblivione Vendicantur Tomus Quintus (Lyons, 1642), Folio.

18.       Vita R.P.F. Ioannis Duns Scoti Ordinis Minorum Doctoris Subtilis (Mons, 1644), Octavo.

19.            Annales Minorum, in Quibus Res Omnes Trium Ordinum a S Francisco Institutorum Ex Fide Ponderiosus Asseruntur, Calumniae Rebelluntur, Praeclara Quaeque Munumenta Ab Oblivione Vendicantur Tomus Septimus, (Lyons, 1648), Folio.

20.            Annales Minorum, in Quibus Res Omnes Trium Ordinum a S Francisco Institutorum Ex Fide Ponderiosus Asseruntur, Calumniae Rebelluntur, Praeclara Quaeque Munumenta Ab Oblivione Vendicantur Tomus Sextus (Lyons, 1648), Folio.

21.            Scriptores Ordinis Minorum.  Quibus Accessit Syllabus Illorum, Qui Ex Eodem Ordine Pro Fide Christi Fortiter Occubuerunt (Rome, 1650), Folio.

22.       De Morte B Mariae Virginis (Rome, 1655), Octavo.

23.            Immaculatae Conceptioni B Mariae Virginis Non Adversari Eius Mortem Corporalem Opusculum (Rome, 1655), Octavo.

24.       De Oculo Morali Aureus Libellus Joannis Gualensis..Fr Lucus Waddingus ... Recensuit Suo Authori Vindicavit (Viterbo, 1655 [6]), 12mo.

25.       De Baptismo B Mariae Virginis (Rome, 1656), Octavo.

26.       De Redemptione B Mariae Virginis (Rome, 1656), Octavo.

27.       Vita S Anselmi Episcopi Lucensis; Commentarius Illustrata (Rome, 1657), Quarto.

28.            Florilegium de Vita et Dictis Illustrium Philosophorum (Rome, 1665).

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