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Manuel Laínz (5 May 1923 - 20 July 2024) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, botanist, and entomologist. ^[1]

He was born in Santander on May 5, 1923, into a well-to-do family, being baptized Manuel Sebastián Pío Laínz y Gallo. His father, Manuel Lainz and Ribalaygua (1891-1979), nicknamed by some as "San Manuel" in reference to his great popularity, ^[2] was an important industrial and philanthropist entrepreneur, one of the wealthiest men in the province, owner of the tobacco shop Jean and the Lainz department store. His grandfather, Manuel Lainz and Ruiz del Pumar (1856-1945) was a nobleman from Ajo, who would become mayor of Santander during the last year of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Template:Harvnp ^[3] He was also the brother of Francisco Lainz.

On September 26, 1939, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Palencia, and in 1941 he went to Salamanca, where he studied Humanities. In 1943, he moved to Carrión de los Condes and worked as a teacher. A posteriori he studied Philosophy and Theology at the University of Comillas de Cantabria. He then returned to Comillas to study Natural Sciences. On July 15, 1953, he was ordained a priest in Comillas. ^[4]

Between 1956 and 1978 he goes to the Labor University of Gijón, as a teacher and botanical researcher, dedicating a lot of effort to creating a monumental herbarium. During this time, he forges a friendship with Felix Rodríguez de la Fuente.

In 2004, the Society of Jesus cedes to the City Council of Gijón, the work of Father Laínz: a library specialized in botany and an Herbarium of 38,000 specimens; sheltering them in the Atlantic Botanical Garden.