19 Facts About Martin Delrio

Martin Anton Delrio SJ was a Dutch Jesuit theologian.

Martin Delrio studied at numerous institutions, receiving a master's degree in law from Salamanca in 1574.

Martin Delrio studied or taught at Jesuit colleges across Catholic Europe, including Bordeaux, Douai, Graz, Mainz, Leuven, and Salamanca.

Martin Delrio was the friend of the Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius, a relative of Michel de Montaigne, and an enemy of the Protestant scholar Joseph Scaliger.

Martin Delrio was the author of a large number of books, including classical commentaries and works of biblical exegesis.

Martin Delrio remains best known for his six-volume Magical Investigations, a work on magic, superstition, and witchcraft.

Young Martin studied at a Latin school in nearby Lier and soon revealed himself as a childhood prodigy.

Martin Delrio was particularly proud of the edition of Senecan tragedy, published in 1576 but which he claimed to have completed before his twentieth birthday.

Martin Delrio can be placed at the University of Paris in 1567 and 1568.

Martin Delrio spent some time in Douai where he refused to share a bed with an unnamed famous man.

Martin Delrio was never destined for one of the religious orders.

Martin Delrio's family had originally destined him for a political career.

The Martin Delrio family paid host to a number of prominent figures on visits to Antwerp, including Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle and Anne of Austria, Queen of Spain, Philip II's fourth wife.

Martin Delrio professed a sincere conversion to the religious life, but with his career side-lined and his family connections either dead or in exile he might have had little choice.

Martin Delrio would teach the Old Testament Song of Songs and the Book of Lamentations.

Martin Delrio spent some time teaching at Valladolid and Salamanca, where he despaired of the quality of the students, describing them as "students for our saliva".

Martin Delrio was credited with importing the beliefs of the Malleus into the Low Countries.

Wolfgang Behringer argued that Martin Delrio drew on his experience as a young magistrate, which made him in effect "a colleague of Nicolas Remy".

In contrast to works by Henry Boguet and Pierre de Lancre, Martin Delrio's was not based on personal experience.