Juan Tomás de Boxadors (1703–1780) was the

Master of the Order of Preachers The Master of the Order of Preachers is the Superior General of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order, Dominicans. The Master of the Order of Preachers is ''ex officio'' Chancellor (education), Grand Chancellor of the Pont ...

from 1756 to 1777 and a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

from 1776 to 1780.

Biography

Juan Tomás de Boxadors began his career as a diplomat of the Kingdom of Spain to the court of

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor , house = Habsburg , spouse = , issue = , issue-link = #Children , issue-pipe = , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date ...

. Following the death of his brother in the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...

, Boxadors had a spiritual crisis that resulted in his joining the Dominican Order. He taught

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theology, theologian ...

for a number of years, and then became a companion of Master Brémond. At a General Chapter of 1756, the Dominican Order elected him as their master.Benedict M. Ashley, ''The Dominicans'', ch. 7
That chapter charged him with promoting the use of the

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

, and Boxadors did so faithfully. He completed a

visitation Visitation may refer to: Law * Visitation (law) or contact, the right of a non-custodial parent to visit with their children * Prison visitation rights, the rules and conditions under which prisoners may have visitors Music * ''Visitation'' (D ...

of the order's Spanish provinces. He promoted the revival of Thomism with his letter "De renovanda et defendenda doctrina sancti Thomae" (1757) which was widely distributed in the Order. Lamenting deviations from Thomistic doctrine and demanding a return to the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, Boxadors charged Salvatore Roselli (1722–1784) with assisting the reform of education in the order. Roselli then wrote his influential ''Summa philosophica ad mentem Angelici Doctoris S. Thomae Aquinatis'' of 1777, which supplanted the major manuals of the day and continued to be the standard Thomistic text through its third edition in 1857–59. In the wake of the Enlightenment, the Dominican Order was able to recruit fewer and fewer young men and women. By 1758, there were only three novices in all of the Kingdom of France. In 1765, Louis XV of France appointed a commission to reform the religious houses of France. Boxadors futilely resisted these reforms.

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...

made him a

in 1775.Juan Tomás Cardinal de Boxadors y Sureda de San Martín, O.P.
/ref> He died in 1780.

References

Spanish Dominicans 18th-century Spanish cardinals Masters of the Order of Preachers 1703 births 1780 deaths Cardinals created by Pope Pius VI Dominican cardinals {{Spain-RC-clergy-stub