Luis de Molina: On War

João Manuel A.A. Fernandes

I. Introduction: Origin and Content of Molina’s Theory of War

The task of studying Luis de Molina’s theory of war has been facilitated by a range of factors. This is not because the theory is in itself simple—on the contrary—but because it has already been the subject of some deep and accurate analysis. Entire works were dedicated to Molina, laying down the ideas of this Spanish master. The works of Manuel Frage Iribarne,1 of Lucas Garcia Prieto,2 and of Frank Bartholomew Costello3 have already brought great knowledge to the complicated and very casuistic expositions of Molina and have provided information about the intellectual scenery in which he formulated his ideas. The chapter of Berenice Hamilton4 about the political ideas of Molina and others concerning war and the essay of Norbert Brieskorn specifically about Molina’s ideas about war5 complete the exposition of the theory with important contributions. Luis de Molina wrote down his considerations about war as conse- quence of his lessons in the University of Évora in 1574–75, when he was lecturing the Summa theologica of Thomas Aquinas. The theory was born as Molina commented on question 40 of the Secunda secundae, “De bello.” Another important precedent, which exerted a considerable influence on Molina’s reflections, was the work that Francisco de Vitoria had presented in Salamanca in 1539, known as the Relectio de jure belli. In his own work Molina refers very often to the questions and opinions of Francisco de

1 Manuel Fraga Iribarne, Luis de Molina y el Derecho de la Guerra (Madrid: 1947). This work includes also the first study of Molina on the matter, as a commentary to St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Latin text with Spanish translation of the second and definitive version, which was published in the treaty De iustitia et iure. 2 P. Lucas Garcia Prieto, La Paz y La Guerra—Luis de Molina y la Escuela Espanola del siglo XVI en relación con la ciencia y el Derecho Internacional Moderno (Zaragoza: 1944). 3 Frank Bartholomew Costello, SJ, The Political Philosophy of Luis de Molina S.J., 1535– 1600 (Rome: 1974). Specifically about the theory of war, see 95–162. 4 Berenice Hamilton, Political Thought in Sixteenth-Century Spain—A Study of the Political Ideas of Vitoria, De Soto, Suárez, and Molina (Oxford: 1963), 135–57. 5 Norbert Brieskorn, SJ, “Luis de Molina Weiterentwicklung der Kriegsethik und des Kriegsrechts der Scholastik,” in Suche nach Frieden: Politische Ethik in der Frühen Neuzeit II, ed. Norbert Brieskorn and Marcus Riedenauer (Stuttgart: 2000), 167–90. 228 joão manuel a.a. fernandes

Vitoria.6 The first form of Molina’s theory, presented as a commentary on question 40 of Thomas Aquinas, remained unpublished until 1939, when the Jesuit Father R.S. de Lamadrid decided to publish it. This is the first known formulation of Molina’s thinking.7 It was only in the late years of his life that Molina was able to give to the theory its definitive form and publish it. It is embodied in his great law work De iustitia et iure, published when he was already retired in Cuenca, Spain, starting in the year 1593. In this encyclopedic law book, Molina develops the ideas about war that he had taught at the University of Évora. To this purpose he used the written work that he had already completed as a commentary on the S. Th., II–II, q. 40, but adapted it to the order and form of the new and extensive law treaty. He divided the matter into 26 problems and handled each problem as a disputatio, placing the whole subject in the second treaty of the first book, from disputatio 98 to disputatio 123. Molina discusses along these 26 questions a great variety of matters. In a very brief overview, he speaks about the perspective in which he will handle the matter, as related to the problem of justice; he investigates the question if it is permitted for a Christian to wage or to fight in war and the connected problems; he defines the common ground to all just wars, investigates the justification for just war and for its particular cases, characterizes the necessary intention to wage just war; analyzes the situ- ation of the church’s members in war; the use of cunning and the respect of promises made to the enemy; he speaks about the interventions of for- eigners and infidels; about the knowledge of the subjects in respect of the causes of war and their judgment of them; about the relations between the sovereign and the soldiers and of the soldiers with the enemy; he

6 The text of the “Relectio de Jure Belli” can be consulted in the critical edition of Corpus Hispanorum de Pace, with the title Francisco de Vitoria, Relectio de Jure Belli o Paz Dinamica-Escuela Española de la Paz, Primer Generación, 1526–1560, por Luciano Pereña a.o. (Madrid: 1981), Latin text and Spanish translation, 95–207. As a commentary to the Relectio, see also Dieter Janssen, “Die Theorie des gerechten Krieges im Denken des Francisco de Vitoria,” in Die Ordnung der Praxis—Neue Studien zur spanischen Spätscholastik, ed. Frank Grunert and Kurt Seelmann (Tübingen: 2001), 205–43. 7 Luis de Molina, SI, “De Bello—Comentario a la 2.2, Q.40, editado por R.S. de Lamadrid, S.I.,” in Archivo Teológico Granadino, II, 1939 (Granada, Facultad Teológica SJ), 155–231. The original writing finds itself in MS 1581 of the Library of the University of Coimbra, fols. 574v–612r: Lamadrid, 155. There is a German translation of text edited by Lamadrid by Joachim Stüben, published with the Latin original, in Heinz-Gerhard Justenhoven and Joachim Stüben (eds.), Kann Krieg erlaubt sein? Eine Quellensammlung zur politischen Etthik der spanischen Spätscholastik, Kohlhammer (Stuttgart: 2006), 212–343.