Joan Terès i Borrull (29 September 1538 – 10 July 1603) was presbyter of Vic, auxiliary bishop of Morocco (1575–1579), bishop of Elne (1579–1586) and of Tortosa (1586–1587), and archbishop of Tarragona (1587–1603). He was viceroy of Catalonia (1602–1603) and councillor of King Philip III of Spain.
He was born in Verdú (Lleida, Spain) to a humble Christian family in 1538. Son of Joan Terès Domènech and Magdalena Borrull Carnicer, and brother of Magdalena, Joana, Elionor and Margarida.
During his teenage years, he lived in Reus, where he studied grammar while he begged to pay his studies. In 1554, he went to the School of Tarragona where he studied Latin and humanities, paying his studies with the short salary from delivering letters.
Due to his talent, he got good protection and stimulus. Later, he was sent to study philosophy and theology to a school that the Society of Jesus founded in Spain, the Saint Paul School in Valencia, where he finally completed his doctorate studies.
In 18 April 1566 he asked for a deferment to pay taxes for his doctorate in theology, which was granted. It is very probable that he passed in his first try, since there are no other registered deferments in the following years. Since 1532, the payment to get the title of doctor was 7 pounds and 10 sous (or 1 800 dineros).
During the 1566–1567 academic year he was permanent professor of the second chair of Logic and for that he received 5 Valencian pounds out of the 500 that Pope Pius IV gave to the Studium generale of Valencia. On 15 March 1567 he was proposed for the second chair of Questions for the 1567–1568 academic year. In 1570-1571 he got the first chair of Questions and in 1571-1572 the first one of Philosophy. Logic, Questions and Philosophy, either in their realist or nominalist perspective, made up the Arts triad at the Faculty of Arts in cycles of three years. Professors usually taught a full triad starting with Logic in any of the modalities. Once finished either the nominalist or the realist cycle, they started with the one which they had not read before. For this reason, although there is evidence that Terès was chair in the mentioned courses, it is highly probable that he also took the second chair (nominalist) of Philosophy in 1568-1569 and the first chair (realist) of Logic in 1569–1572. Therefore, he would have completed a six-year period as a chair in the Faculty of Arts from 1566 until 1572.
Besides being professor, Joan Terès was examiner at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Valencia as well. In 16 February 1565 he was named assistant professor and substitute for examiner Vicente Montañés, chair at the Faculty of Arts. Usually, the assistant replaced the examiner in case of death or resignation. Nowhere is stated that Terès got the position, but there is evidence that Juan Tomás was proposed as his assistant in 5 July 1571. Two years later, in 4 March 1573, Terès, who was already living in Tarragona, resigned the position and Juan Tomás was replaced by Juan Tomás.
Due to the order of imprisonment of the rector of the University of Valencia for 1568–1571, Pere Joan Monzó, by archbishop of Valencia Juan de Ribera, in 31 March 1570, Terès was appointed new rector, when the archbishop forced Monzó to delegate his position to Terès.
The archbishop's original plans were to give the positions of chair of theology to members of the order he belonged to: the Society of Jesus. Since the rector was elected among the chairs of the Faculty of Theology by sortition and he had a vital role in the appointment of the rest of the academic positions, it would not be surprising that in a short time the Jesuits had taken control over the institution.
Therefore, it is understandable that the chosen one to replace Pere Monzó was somebody who had a similar academic qualification to be elected rector, and had the advantage of being a former student of the Jesuit School of Saint Paul.
In regard of his intellectual legacy, it is worth mentioning that he was the professor of the Spanish philosopher Diego Mas, who dedicated two of his works to Terès:
Metaphysica disputatio seu de ente et de eius propietatibus, quae communi nomine scribitur de trascendentibus (Valencia, 1587)
Commentaria in Universam Philosophia Aristotelis, una cum quaestionibus quae a gravissimis viris disputari solent (Valencia, 1599)
He went back to Tarragona and hold a benefice at the cathedral of Tarragona that allowed him to live without economical problems.
In 1570, the archbishop of Tarragona Gaspar Cervantes de Gaeta was appointed cardinal, keeping his position as archbishop of Tarragona. When he moved to Italy, Terès took care of the ecclesial matters of the archdiocese.
On 4 February 1575, Terès was consecrated by Archbishop Cervantes. That year the Seminary of Tarragona, the first one in Spain, was founded according to the regulations of the Council of Trent. Terès was its first rector. Later that year, Cardinal Cervantes proposed him to be auxiliary bishop with the nominal title of Morocco, with which the Pope agreed.
In 1577, the University of Tarragona was officially institutionalized, and in 2 May of that year Terès was appointed rector of that university by Archbishop Antonio Agustín. He also was chair of Theology at the new institution.
In 22 May 1579, Pope Gregory XIII sent him to the diocese of Elne, since the previous bishop, Pedro Mártir Coma, died. Terès took up the post in 26 July of that year. In 12 December 1582, Maria of Austria, widow of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was going back to Spain, and her daughter Margaret arrived to Collioure. When they stopped in Elne, Terès visited the Empress. In Christmas day, Terès celebrated a mass in the church of Saint John of Perpignan, in the presence of the Holy Roman Empress, the Princess and the whole court. In the second semester of 1585, Terès participated in the Courts of Monzón. In early June 1586, he received the nomination bulls from Pope Sixtus V for the diocese of Tortosa. As bishop of Tortosa, he consecrated the parochial temple of Verdú on 15 June 1586. In 22 May 1587, Pope Sixtus V assigned him to the archdiocese of Tarragona, after the death of archbishop Antonio Agustín.