THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCTRINE ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY AFTER AUREOLI To trace the influence of a Scholastic on his contemporaries and successors is not always easy1. In the absence of direct use or references, one must seek, examine and weigh parallel or identical quotations from authorities, similarity of verbal expression or argumentation , the general trend of thought, as well as such external factors as the number of known manuscripts. A complete survey of all possible sources is thus required for a definitive statement of the influence of Aureoli. Yet the general impression made by both the small number of manuscripts and an examination of available texts of contemporaries is that the Tractatus of Peter Aureoli was either unknown to many Scholastics of the first half of the fourteenth century or simply, though inexplicably, neglected. That Peter was opposed to Scotus on many points of doctrine would hardly seem reason enough for the latter's disciples to have neglected Aureoli's important contribution to Mariology and the defence of the Immaculate Conception. A possible exception at Paris is Hugh of Newcastle (infra); a positive exception at Oxford is Walter of Chatton: quaere librum Aureoli, unless this refers to a redaction of his Sentences. Some later theologians and preachers, on the other hand, seem to have made good use of the Tract and the Repercussorium. Thus, a certain Bernardus de Deo, guardian at Lérida in Spain, in his Summa praedicabilium expressly holds the Immaculate Conception on the authority ofMaster Johannes Scott, Garro (WiUiam of Ware), Master Hugo and other masters at Paris. Then, after citing what appears to be mainly the thought of Hugo, he writes: "This doctrine is also held by Friar Peter Aureoli, an outstanding doctor 1 This is a revised and abbreviated version of a paper given at the National Franciscan Marian Congress (Santa Barbara, Calif., May 5, 1954). The original will appear in the Proceedings of the Congress (St. Anthony's Guild, Paterson, 1955)· !75 1762". BRADY in the Order of Friars Minor, as is evident from the Tractatus which he composed on this matter and which, to the honor of the Virgin, we have inserted in our Breviloquium historíale2." Later, in 1373, the Scottish Friar Thomas de Rossy makes use of the argument from the Assumption in his own Quaestio de conceptione Virginis Immaculatae^. The Tract Ukewise so appealed to the Carmelite Mathurin Clement (dean of theology at Paris in 1451) that he incorporated it into his own De Conceptione B. M. V.1 Outstanding also is the work of Bartholomaeus Albizzi de Pisis, O. F. M. (f 1401), doctor of theology and preacher, whose De vita et laudibus B. M. V. (1380) relies heavily on Aureoli, who is expressly named with Duns Scotus and Landulphus Carracciolo. The whole exposé of original justice, original sin, conception, contraction de iure and de facto, as well as many of the arguments, authorities, dubia, are drawn from this source: vide in tractatu P. Aureoli de Conceptione ; though the arrangement is changed considerably5. For a thorough use and development of Aureoli's doctrine, however, we must look to Spain, for the Liber de originali Virginis innocentia of Fra Petrus Thomae will prove as equally valuable as the Tractatus. Unfortunately, this work does not seem to have been weU known beyond the confines of Spain (where Petrus Thomae was lector at the Studium of Barcelona), though a copy was sent to Avignon for the approval of Pope John XXII. Had either the Tractatus or the Liber been in the hands of the Parisian Scholastics, the latter would have effected nos doubt a greater development of doctrine. As it is, the Tract finds it flowering in the work of Petrus Thomae, while the latter is used only toward the end of the century by another Spaniard, John Vitalis. 2 Cf. E. Longpré, O. F. M., "Fr. Bernard de Deo, O. F. M. (1318) et l'Immacul ée Conception", Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, XXVI (1933), 247—49· The date assigned by Fr. Longpré seems entirely too early in view of the text: ut volunt multi doctores, de quorum numero est magister Johannes Scoti, Garro, magister Hugo et communiter...