Antonio Comellas y Cluet (16 January 1832, in

Berga Berga () is the capital of the ''comarca'' (county) of Berguedà, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is bordered by the municipalities of Cercs, Olvan, Avià, Capolat and Castellar del Riu. History Berga derives its name from ...

– 3 June 1884, in Berga) was a philosopher. Comellas studied philosophy and theology in

Vic Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...

, and entered the diocesan

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

Solsona, Lleida Solsona is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality and capital of the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Solsonès in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the centre of the ''comarca'' in the Catalan Central Depress ...

. After his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

(17 May 1856) he continued to teach Latin at Solsona until 1862, when he was appointed professor of theology. During his stay there he published two pamphlets. The first was a discourse, delivered at the opening of the scholastic term, 1866–67, in which he tried to explain in a new manner the procession of the

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, and the second a translation, accompanied by prologue and notes, of a work by Reginald Baumstark, ''Pensamientos de un protestante sobre la invitación del papa á la reconciliación con la Iglesia católica romana'' (Barcelona, 1869). To be able to devote himself to his chosen line of work, a few months after the appearance of his philosophical work, he resigned his chair of theology in 1871, and withdrew to Berga. Before 1880 he published ''Demostración de la armonía entre la religión católica y la ciencia'', a work of an apologetic nature, written to refute

John William Draper John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English-born American scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with producing the first clear photograph of a female face (1839–40) and ...

's ''Conflict Between Science and Religion''. In 1883 he wrote his philosophical work, ''Introducción á la filosofía, ó sea doctrina, sobre la dirección al ideal de la ciencia'' (Barcelona). Gómez Izquierdo, his biographer, says, that "as a philosopher, he omellaswas the only thinker who obeying the impulse of his scientific inquisitiveness, rather than the influence and stimulus of those about him, devoured all the most interesting philosophical literature of Europe of his time" and that "in his active mind the echoes of the spiritualism of the Catalan School and the first murmurs of the

Thomistic Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions ...

revival reverberated". Some view him as one of the precursors of

Neo-Scholasticism Neo-scholasticism (also known as neo-scholastic Thomism Accessed 27 March 2013 or neo-Thomism because of the great influence of the writings of Thomas Aquinas on the movement) is a revival and development of medieval scholasticism in Catholic the ...

in Spain.

References

*GÓMEZ IZQUIERDO, ''Un filosófo catalán, Antonio Comellas y Cluet in Cultura española'' (Madrid, 1907); * {{DEFAULTSORT:Comellas, A 1832 births 1884 deaths Philosophers from Catalonia 19th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians People from Berguedà