Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/455

 SALOME

403

SALT

Alfonsus Salmefoio'

of Justification was under discussion. The two Jesuits at once won the hearts and respect of all; their discourses had to be printed and distributed to the bishops. Both set out for Bologna (14 March, 1547) with the Council. After serious sickness at Padua, Salmeron once again took up his council work. The next two years were in great part spent in preaching at Bologna, Venice, Padua, and Verona. On 4 Oct., 1549, Salmeron and his companions, Le Jay and Canisius, took their doctorate in the University of Bologna, so that they might, at the urgent invitat ion of ~ • - - 1 William IV of Bavaria,

accept chairs in In- golstadt. Salmeron undertook to inter- pret the Epistle to the Romans. He held the attention of all by his learning and grace of exposition. Upon the death of Duke Wil- liam, and at the insti- gation of the Bishop (jf \'erona, much to the chagrin of the faculty of the Academy of In- golstadt, Salmeron was returned to Verona (24 Sept., 1550). That year he explained the Gospel of St. Matthew. Next year (1551) he was summoned to Rome to help St. Ig- natius in working up the Constitutions of the Soci- ety. Other work was in store. He was soon (I^eb., 1551) sent down to Naples to inaugurate the Soci- ety's first college there, but after a few months was summoned by Ignatius to go back to the Council of Trent as theologian to Julius III. It was during the discussions jjreliminary to these sessions that Lainez and Salmeron, ixs papal theologians, gave their vola first. When the Council once again susjjcnded its sessions, Salmeron returned to Najjles (Oct., 1552). Paul IV sent him to the Augsburg Diet (May, 1555) with the nuncio, Lippomanus, and thence into Poland; and later (April, 1556) to Belgium. Another journey to Belgium was undertaken in the capacity of adviser to Cardinal Caraffa (2 Dec, 1557). Lainez appointed Salmeron first Provincial of Naples (15.58), and vicar-general (1561) during the former's apostolic legation to France. The Council of Trent was again resumed (May, 1562) and a third pontiff, Pius IV, cho.se Salmeron and Lainez for papal theologians. The role was very delicate; the Divine; origin of the rights and duties of bishops was to be discu.ssed. During the years 1564-82, Salmeron was engaged chiefly in preaching and writing; he preached every day during eighteen Lenten seasons; his preaching was fervent, learned, and fruitful. His writings during this long period were voluminous; Bellarmine spent five months in Naples reviewing them. Each day he pointed out to Sal- meron the portions that were not up to the mark, and the next day the latter brought back those parts corrected.

The chief writings of Salmeron are his sixteen volumes of Scriptural commentaries— eleven on the Gospels, one on the Acts, and four on the Pauline Epistles. Southwell says that these sixteen volumes were printed by Sanchez, Madrid, from 1597 till 1602; in Brescia, 1601; in Cologne, from 1602-04. Sommervogel (Bibliotheque de la C. de J., VII, 479) has traced only twelve tomes of the Madrid edition— the eleven of the Go.spels and one of the Pauline commentaries. The Gospel volumes are

entitled, "Alfonsi Salmeronis Toletani, e Societate Jesu Theologi, Commentarii in Evangelicam His- toriam et in Acta Apostolorum, in duodecim tomos distributi" (Madrid, 1598-1601). The first Cologne edition, together with the second (1612-15), are found complete. These voluminous commentaries are the popular and university exjjositions which Salmeron had delivered during his preatihing and teaching days. In old age, he gathered his notes together, revised them, and left his volumes ready for posthumous publication by Bartholomew Perez de Nueros. Grisar (Jacobi Lainez Disputationes TridentiniP, I, 53) thinks that the commentary on Acts is the work of P6rez; Braunsberger (Canisii epist., Ill, 448) and the editors of "Monumenta Historica S. J." (Epistola? Salmeron, I, xxx) disagree with Grisar. The critical acumen of Salmeron, his judicious study of the Fathers and his knowledge of Holy Writ make his Scriptural exegesis still worth the attention of students. He was noted for his devotion to the Church, fortitude, pru(l(>nce, and magnanimity. The Acts of the Council of Trent show that he wielded tremendous influence; there by his voki on justification, Holy Eucharist, penance, purgatory, indulgences, the Sacrifice of the Mass, matrimony, and the origin of episcopal jurisdiction — all most important questions because of the gradual infiltration of some heretical ideas into a small minority of the hierarchy of that time.

Monumenta hist. Societatis Jesu, epistolce P. Alfonsi Salmeron (Madrid, 1906); Ribadeneira, La vida y muerte del P. Alonso Salmerdn (Madrid, 1605) ; Astbain, Hist, de la CompaHia de Jesus (Madrid, 1902-05), I, II; Idem, Los Espafloles en el Concilio de Trento in Rm6n y Fe, III and IV; Tacchi Venturi, Storia della Compagnia di Gesu in Italia (Rome, 1910); Sommer- vogel, BibliotMque de la Compagnie de Jesus (Paris, 1896-1900), VII, 478 and IX, 835; Polanco, Chronicon breve seu synopsis rerum geslarum Societatis Jesu ab initio usque ad annum lo/f9 in Monum. hi.il. S. J. (Madrid, 1900).

Walter Drum.

Salome. — (1) The daughter of Herod Philip and Herodias (Matt., xiv, 6-8; Mark, vi, 22; cf. Josephus, "Antiq. Jud.", XVIII, v, 4), at whose request John the Baptist was beheaded.

(2) One of the holy women present at the Cruci- fi.xion, and who visited the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection (Mark, xv, 40; xvi, 1). In Mark XV, 40, we read: "And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the Mother of James the less and of Joseph, and Salome." The parallel passage of Matthew reads thus: "Among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee" (Matt., xxvii, 56). Comparison of the two gives a well-grounded probability that the Salome of the former is identical with the mother of the sons of Zebedee in the latter, who is mentioned also in Matt., xx, 20 sq., in connexion with the peti- tion in favour of her .sons. Beyond the.se references in the Gospel narrative and what may be inferred from them nothing is known of Salome, though some writers conjecture more or less plausibly that she is the sister of the Bles.sed Virgin mentioned in John, xix, 25.

James F. Driscoll.

Saloniki. See Thessalonica.

Salt, always used for the seasoning of food and for the preservation of things from corruption, had from very early days a sacred and religious character. The Prophet Eliseus employed it to make palatable the waters of a well (IV Kings, ii, 19 sqq.). The Orientals used it to cleanse and harden the skin of a new-born child (Ezech., xvi, 4); by strewing salt on a piece of land they dedicated it to the gods; in the Jewish Law it was prescribed for the sacrifices and the loaves of proposition (Lev., ii, 13). In Matt., V, 13, salt symbolizes wisdom, though perhaps originally it had an exorcistic signification. Its use