Abstract

The paper aims to provide an updated biography of Benet Perera in the historical background of the early years of the Collegio Romano. As one of the first teachers at the Collegio Romano, Benet Perera played a significant role in the debate on the different drafts of the Constitutiones and the Rationes studiorum of the Jesuit order, often generating criticisms among his colleagues and brothers in the faith. Debating on disciplines and methods of teaching, these discussions involved some crucial topics from an epistemological point of view: mainly concerning the scientific status and role of metaphysics