Žygimantas Liauksminas

Žygimantas Liauksminas Template:Lang-lat (1596 or 1597 in Samogitia – 11 September 1670 in Vilnius, Grand Duchy of Lithuania) was a Lithuanian Jesuit theologian, philosopher, theorist of rhetoric and music, founder of Lithuanian musicology, one of the first Lithuanian professors and rectors of the University of Vilnius.

Biography

Liauksminas joined the Jesuit Order in 1616. In 1618–1619, he studied rhetoric at the Jesuit College in Pułtusk. He continued his education at the University of Vilnius studying philosophy in 1619–1621 and theology in 1625–1629. In 1642, Liauksminas became a Doctor of Theology.

Liauksminas taught rhetoric at the Polotsk College and Nyasvizh College in 1631–1635, philosophy and theology at the University of Vilnius in 1635–1642, philosophy at the Braunsberg College in 1642–1644. Was a rector of the Płock College in 1644–1647, Polotsk College in 1650–1655, and Kražiai College in 1661–1665. He was vice-rector (1655–1658) and vice-chancellor (1665–1670) of the University of Vilnius.

He was a vice-provincial superior of Lithuania in the Jesuit Order. In 1645–1646, he substituted a provincial superior and administered a religious province during the 9th General Congregation. As a general elector from Lithuanian Jesuits, he also participated in the 10th (1652) and 11th (1661) General Congregations in Rome.

Works

Liauksminas has written theological works (The Justification of the Catholic Church, Demonstratio Catholicae Ecclesiae, circa 1643, third edition - 1648), A Theology for the Church (Theologia ecclesiastica, 1665, second edition - 1675), first original Greek Grammar in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth - Summary of the Greek Textbook (Epitome institutionum linguae graecae, 1655). Most famous work of Ž.Liauksminas - An Oratory Practice and the Rules of the Rhetoric Art (Praxis oratoria sive praecepta artis rhetoricae, 1648). In it he, making references to Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, critisizes the faults of the baroque literary style - it's pomp, fogginess, macaronics and praises sober mind, clarity of thought, structured language. An annex of this book - A Kernel of Dialectics (Medulio dialecticae) is an introduction to scholastic logic, introducing it's main categories and thinking methods. Praxis oratoria sive praecepta artis rhetoricae was widely used in the jesuit schools, issued in Munich (1664), Frankfurt an Main (1666), Cologne (1680, 1705, 1707, 1717), Würzburg (1690), Prague (1710), Vienna (1720), Košice (1732).

Bibliography

• (In Lithuanian) Žygimantas Liauksminas, Rinktiniai raštai (Mintis, 2011, p. 440) ISBN 9785417008641
• (In Lithuanian) Index Lituanicus - works of Žygimantas Liauksminas