Juan González Arintero

Juan González Arintero, OP (24 June 1860 – 20 February 1928) was a Spanish Catholic priest of the Order of Preachers.

Biography Early life Arintero was born in Lugueros, León, and entered the convent of the Dominican Order at Corias (Asturias) in 1875. He took the religious habit in 1879. In 1881, he entered the University of Navarra and was ordained a priest in 1883. In 1886, he completed his studies in physical-chemical sciences and in 1908, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Theology.

As a specialist in the natural sciences, he taught at colleges in Vergara, Corias, Valladolid and later at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome. In Salamanca, he became friends with Marie-Joseph Lagrange.

Career In Salamanca, Arintero founded the "Scientific-Apologetic Academy of Saint Thomas". In 1921, he founded in Bilbao the magazine La Vida Sobrenatural. He contributed to the restoration of mystical studies in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century and spread many ideas about mysticism, holiness and perfection that later influenced the Second Vatican Council.

Arintero excelled in reconciling faith and scientific postulates. He defined his theses on the evolution of species in his eight-volume work entitled La Evolución y la Filosofía Cristiana ("Evolution and Christian Philosophy"), in which he argues that there are two types of species, "an immutable species whose creation corresponded only to God, and another species, the organic species, which was derived from the first and which, thanks to the accidents explained by scientific evolution, was creating varieties such as genders or races. For Arintero, there was a divine order that always prevailed, and then a game of minor changes."

Arintero died in Salamanca on 20 February 1928 at the age of 67.

Beatification His cause for beatification has been initiated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salamanca since 5 August 1976.

Works

In Spanish 1892: El Diluvio Universal Demostrado por la Geologia 1898: La Evolución y la Filosofía Cristiana 1901: El Hexámeron y la Ciencia Moderna 1904: Teología y Teofobia 1908: Evolución Mística 1911: Evolución Doctrinal 1916: Cuestiones Místicas 1919: Exposición Mística del Cantar de los Cantares 1920: La Sulamitis: María Inmaculada, ideal del alma religiosa 1923: Las Escalas del Amor; reedición 2020 - Introducción

In English translation 1949: The Mystical Evolution in the Development and Vitality of the Church 1957: Stages in Prayer