The essay explores the Irish Franciscan theologian Luke Wadding’s decades-long stay and
activity in Rome. After having been educated in the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain),
Wadding was chosen in 1618 to assist, as a theological export, the Spanish prelate Antonio
de Trejo in his diplomatic mission to the Holy See with the purpose of convincing Pope Paul
V to proclaim the Immaculate Conception as dogma. When Trejo’s mission ended, Wadding
stayed in Rome, where he remained until his death in 1657. The essay focuses, in addition
to the foundation of the two Roman Irish Colleges, one of his most important achievements,
on Wadding’s activity as theological advisor, initially within the context of the Immaculist
mission and, later as consultant for the Holy Office and for the Congregation of the Index.
What appears in this analysis is the adaptability and the opportunism of a friar who had been
entrusted by Philip III to support the Spanish Monarchy’s interests and who, nevertheless,
just a few years later, would be able to become a champion of Roman Catholic orthodoxy
and its jurisdictional claims
