Pérez, Fernando

The Andalusian Fernando (more commonly cited in Portuguese as Fernão) Pérez was born c. 1530 in Cordoba. In this town, in the College of Santa Catalina, he joined the Society of Jesus. This was on December 23, 1559, six years after the first establishment belonging to the Ignatians in the south of Spain was founded by Francisco de Borja. Fernando Pérez was both a disciple and follower of Juan de Ávila, an ascetic writer from Andalusia who was also an evangelist. By way of responding to a request he had received from Francisco de Borja, who had been solicited by the cardinal-infante Don Henrique to assist in finding professors for the newly founded Jesuit University of Évora (November 1, 1559), Juan de Ávila proposed Pérez. The latter started his novitiate in Cordoba, and then proceeded with it in Évora. Here Pérez became a teacher of theology, and was rewarded for his merits as a pedagogue by being appointed coordinator of the chair of “Vespers” (1559-1567). He then became responsible for the chair of "Prima" (1567-1572), both in Évora and in the Coimbra College of Jesus. Pérez had a fruitful scholarly career spanning nearly forty years. Luís de Molina stands out among his disciples and those who furthered his train of thought. For a five-year term Pérez was Rector of the University of Évora and served as Vice-Rector of the Coimbra College of Arts (March 1572 - July 1575). He passed away at the Coimbra Jesuit College on February 13, 1595. Pérez was a priest gifted with exemplary virtues, characterized by great humility and a simple spirit. The words of his confrere Antonio Franco are worth noting: "whenever anyone approached him about printing his handouts, he would turn purple and blush (...) he would say he knew less than a donkey: he would express himself with such words and charming simplicity [quando alguém lhe falava em imprimir suas postilas se punha corado de púrpura (...) dizia que sabia menos que um jumento: com esta chaneza e palavras se explicava].” Although it was not first conceived with an eye to later publication, the written works of Pérez that have so far been translated and published nonetheless provide a significant sample. On the one hand, such a selection of the writings of Pérez discloses the personal style he imprinted to the scholarly approach given to the subjects that made up the mandatory curricula of Theology in the Ignatian educational establishments. Such is exemplified by the handouts pertaining to the lessons "On Warfare," delivered in Coimbra in 1588 and preserved in ms 3299 found in the General Collection of the BNP – Portuguese National Library (Pinto 2015). On the other hand, the written works of Pérez reveal the relative freedom of judgment that his ethical-legal thinking could reach when writing the reports requested of him by his superiors. This is evident in the case of the texts written by Pérez kept in the codex CXVI / 1-33 of the BPE – Public Library of Évora (Pinto 2018; Maurício 1977), where the author addresses issues previously unseen in the annals of canonistics, primarily related to the emerging colonial experience