Venerable Luis de Granada

Louis of Granada, in some sources Luis of Granada, (1504 – 31 December 1588), was a Dominican friar who was noted as theologian, writer and preacher. His beatification process has been long open with the Holy See, with his current status being venerable. Luis was born in Granada of poor parents named Sarria. At the age of nineteen he was received into the Dominican Order in the Priory of the Holy Cross in Granada. His philosophical studies once over, he was chosen by his superiors to represent his community at the Colegio de San Gregorio at Valladolid, an institution of the Dominican Order reserved for extraordinary students. When Luis had completed these studies, he embarked upon the career of a preacher, in which he continued with extraordinary success during forty years. The fame of his preaching spread beyond the boundaries of his native land, and at the request of Henrique of Portugal, son of King Manuel, he was transferred to Portugal, where he became Prior Provincial of the Portuguese Dominicans in 1557. His extraordinary sanctity, learning, and wisdom soon attracted the attention of the queen regent, who appointed him her confessor and counselor. The Bishopric of Viseu and the Archbishopric of Braga were successively offered to him only to be courteously, but firmly, refused. The honours of the cardinalate, offered to him by Pope Sixtus V, were also declined. His published works treat various topics in Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography and church history. He is best known, however, for his writings in ascetical theology, most of which have been translated into a variety of other languages. The best known of these is The Sinner's Guide (La Guía de Pecadores), published in 1555. It is marked by a smooth, harmonious Spanish idiom which has earned it the reputation of a classic, and by an eloquence that has made it a perennial source of religious inspiration. It has been compared with Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ.