This attracted the Society's displeasure. In 1651, he published the first part of the Criticón (Faultfinder) without the permission of his superiors, whom he disobeyed repeatedly. During the Spanish war with Catalonia and France, he was chaplain of the army that liberated Lleida in 1646. He was named Rector of the Jesuit college of Tarragona and wrote works proposing models for courtly conduct such as El héroe (The Hero), El político (The Politician), and El discreto (The Discreet One). He acquired fame as a preacher, although some of his oratorical displays, such as reading a letter sent from Hell from the pulpit, were frowned upon by his superiors. He spent time in Huesca, where he befriended the local scholar Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa, who helped him achieve an important milestone in his intellectual upbringing. He assumed the vows of the Jesuits in 1633 and dedicated himself to teaching in various Jesuit schools. He was ordained in 1627 and took his final vows in 1635. He studied at a Jesuit school in 16 and theology in Zaragoza. The son of a doctor, in his childhood Gracián lived with his uncle, who was a priest. His proto-existentialist writings were lauded by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayud (Aragón). Baltasar Gracián y Morales, SJ (8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658), formerly Anglicized as Baltazar Gracian, was a Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher.
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