What is Benito Jeronimo Feijoo?
{{unreferenced|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox Person | name = Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro | image = Benito Jerónimo Feijoo.jpg | image_size = 200 px | caption = Portrait of Feijoo y Montenegro by Juan Bernabé Palomino | birth_date = {{birth date|1676|10|8|mf=y}} | birth_place = Casdemiro, [[Ourense (province)|Ourense]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1764|9|26|1676|10|8|mf=y}} | death_place = [[Oviedo]] | occupation = Monk, scholar, essayist | spouse = | parents = | children = }} '''Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro''' (8 October 1676 - 26 September 1764) was a [[Galicia]]n [[Spanish Enlightenment literature|neoclassical]] [[monk]] and [[scholar]] noted for encouraging scientific thought in Galicia and [[Spain]]. He was born in [[Casdemiro]], and joined the [[Benedictine]]s at the age of 12, and had taken classes in Galicia, [[León, Spain|León]], and [[Salamanca]]. He later taught [[theology]] and [[philosophy]] at the [[university of Oviedo]], and died at [[Oviedo]]. Padre Feijoo studied in Salamanca, Spain, at the University of Oviedo, earning a professorship in theology. Feijoo was a prominent essayist for the Spanish, and his critiques, letters, and plays helped change the steadfast beliefs of many during the 18th century. His two famous multi-volume collection of essays, ''Teatro critico universal'' (1726-1739) and ''Cartas eruditas y curiosas'' cover a range of subjects, from education, law, and medicine, to superstitions and popular beliefs. Father Feijoo was a debunker of myths. He had great interest in natural science and many of his essays touch on topics related to this subject and to the many myths about creatures and lands that abounded at that time. One example of how far his naturalistic bent went can be found in a story told by Julio A. Feijoo, one of his descendents, born in Cuba in 1910. Father Feijoo believed that demonic possession was a psychological phenomenon. Once he was called upon to perform an exorcism, and in order to demonstrate t