GRANADA, Fray Luis de, Spanish writer and orator: b. Granada 1504; d. Lisbon, 31 Dec. 1538. His father died while Luis was still a child leaving the family without re sources and his mother did the washing at the monastery of Santo Domingo, the inmates of which extended help to her in other ways. The boy showed an early precocity which at tracted the attention of Count Tendilla, who gave him permission to study with his own children. At the age of 20 Granada joined the Dominican order and giving up his family name of Sarria, he assumed that of his native city, Granada. •In the monastery which was, in those days, a sort of university, Granada fol lowed all the courses given and outdistanced all of his fellow students. He showed special talent as an orator. Even among the brilliant students of the monastery he became so noted for his numerous talents that he was crowned with the greatest honor the institution could bestow upon him. In June 1529, after finish ing his course at the monastery, he was elected honor student of his alma mater in the College of Valladolid. On the completion of a bril liant course, broad, far-reaching and deep in its significance, he returned to the monastery of Granada as a teacher of higher studies, espe cially philosophy and theology. In Granada he soon acquired a reputation as a preacher and orator that surpassed that already acquired as a student and teacher. Thousands of all classes flocked to hear him and among his hearers he made many influential friendS who served him in good stead when he was ap pointed head of the dilapidated monastery of Scala Cceli in the mountains of Cordoba. In the latter Fray Luis gathered about him a body of earnest young monks zealous for the good of the Dominican order, and with their aid and that of his influential friends and the good will of the community. he succeeded in making Scala Cceli one of the most notable monastic centres of Spain. There he composed some
of his most important works. After eight years of labor there he was appointed preacher and priest to the Duke of Medina-Sidonia at his palace in Sanlucar. This position he relin quished to undertake the task of founding a great Dominican monastery in Badajos, in which he was brilliantly successful, due prin cipally to his oratorical ability and his talent for organization. In this new convent he wrote
Fray Luis de Granada set a higher standard of Spanish prose than any of his contempora ries or predecessors. Among his published works are (Guia de pecadores' •, ‘Libro de la oraci6n y medilacion);