Juan Tomás de Rocaberti

Rocaberti was born into a noble family at Perelada, in Catalonia. Educated at Girona, he entered the Dominican convent there, receiving the habit in 1640. His success in theological studies at the convent of Valencia secured for him the chair of theology in the University of Valencia.

In 1666 he was chosen provincial of Aragon, and in 1670 the General Chapter elected him general of the order. The celebrated Dominican Vincent Contenson dedicated to him his Theologia mentis et cordis.

In 1676 he was appointed by Carlos II of Spain first Archbishop of Valencia, and then governor of that province. In 1695 he was made inquisitor-general of Spain.

He obtained the canonization of Sts. Louis Bertrand and Rose of Lima, the solemn beatification of Pius V, and the annual celebration in the order of the feast of Bl. Albert the Great and others.

Historian John Langdon-Davies described Rocaberti as a "fanatical ascetic, he never wore linen or silk, he only ate vegetables and fish, his bed was more like a martyr's rack than a high ecclesiastic's resting place."[1]

Rocaberti died at Madrid.

De Romani pontificis authoritate, 1691

Rocaberti is best known as an active apologist of the papacy, against Gallicans and Protestants.

His first work in the sense was De Romani pontificis in temporalibus auctoritate (3 vols., Valentia, 1691–94). His most important work is the Bibliotheca Maxima Pontificia (21 vols., Rome, 1697–1700). In this monumental work the author collected and published in alphabetical order, and in their entirety, all the important works dealing with the primacy of the Holy See from an orthodox point of view, beginning with Abraham Bzovius and ending with Zacharias Boverius. A summary is given in Hurter's Nomenclator.

• De Romani pontificis in temporalibus auctoritate, 3 vols., Valentia, 1691–94.
  • De Romani pontificis authoritate (in Latin). 1. Valentia: Jaime de Bordazar. 1691.
  • De Romani pontificis authoritate (in Latin). 2. Valentia: Jaime de Bordazar. 1694.
  • De Romani pontificis authoritate (in Latin). 3. Valentia: Jaime de Bordazar. 1693.
• Bibliotheca Maxima Pontificia, 21 vols., Rome, 1697-1700.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Juan Tomás de Rocaberti". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Sources:
  • Quétif-Échard, Script. ord. Prad., II (Paris, 1721), 630, 827;
  • Touron, Hist. des hom. Ill. De l'ordre Dom., V (Paris, 1748), 714–26;
  • Hugo von Hurter, Nomenclator literarius recentioris theologiae catholicae, II: Année Dominicaine, XIII, 785.