Martin Delrio — Martinus Antonius Delrio on his Latin title pages, del Río in his family’s Spain — was born at Antwerp, served as a councillor of Philip II in the Council of Brabant, and at thirty-nine gave up his offices to enter the Society of Jesus, teaching afterward at Douai, Louvain, Graz, and Salamanca.
His Disquisitiones Magicae (1599–1600), the great encyclopedia of magic, superstition, and witchcraft, made him one of the most cited authors of his age; he also published on the tragedies of Seneca, on the adages of Scripture, and commentaries across both Testaments.
His Vindiciae Areopagiticae (Antwerp, 1607) — the defense of the writings of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite against Joseph Scaliger, finished in the last two years of his life — is offered here in English for the first time.