Moral Theology: Its Method and Masters
Aertnys, Ios.
Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.
Redemptorist · ?–1918
In the Index: Aertnys, J. (C. SS. R.)
Life
Born 15 January 1828, Eindhoven, Holland; died 30 June 1915, Wittem, Holland. [New Catholic Encyclopedia]
- Redemptorist; professed 1846, ordained 1854; professor of moral theology at Wittem 1860-1898, and adviser of the Dutch bishops and clergy on theological and canonical questions. [New Catholic Encyclopedia]
- His Theologia moralis juxta doctrinam S. Alphonsi (Tournai, 1886-1887) follows St. Alphonsus, as its title says; it reached seventeen editions, the 9th-16th revised by C. A. Damen (so Prümmer; the NCE writes 'A. Damen'), the 17th (1956-1958) by J. Visser. [New Catholic Encyclopedia; Prümmer, Catalogue of authors]
- Also wrote Theologia pastoralis (1892), a Caeremoniale (1880) and a Compendium liturgiae sacrae (1895); a founder of Nederlandse Katholieke Stemmen. [New Catholic Encyclopedia]
- Prümmer's catalogue gives his death as 1918; the NCE, 30 June 1915. [Prümmer, Catalogue of authors]
Sources: New Catholic Encyclopedia (2nd ed., 2003), as published on Encyclopedia.com; Prümmer, Manuale theologiae moralis, Catalogue of authors (on this site). Each fact names where it was read; the links go to the page or entry itself.
In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index
- “Aertnys, Ios., C.Ss.R., Dutch (d. 1918), published several little works and works on moral and pastoral theology, for example De occasionariis et recidivis, De usu matrimonii. His work Theologia moralis iuxta doctrinam S. Alphonsi de Lig., eminent for clarity and brevity, has often been edited after the author's death by C. A. Damen, C.Ss.R., and is highly recommended for the use of schools. Similarly his work Theologia pastoralis has already been edited often.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
His Moral System, as Our Authors Report It
Every report quoted in the author's own words and linked to its place; point at a name to see his words. Haringer's signs give St. Alphonsus's judgment as Haringer found it in St. Alphonsus's works (his notice, Gury-Ballerini, 1884, p. XI); a sign on a writer the 1884 editor added to the list is the editor's own, and is said to be his.
Our authors disagree. Probabilist: Vermeersch. Equiprobabilist: Noldin, Marc, Tanquerey, Prümmer.
Tanquerey (n. 405) holds that equiprobabilism "does not differ substantially from moderate probabilism", and Marc (n. 86) that the moderate probabilists "agree in substantial matters with the equiprobabilists".
| Probabilist | |
|---|---|
| “Thus, from the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Aertnys (l.c. n. 94. 95) professes that practically he thinks with several writers of the Society; but Marc, of the same Congregation, declares himself by no means hostile to the moderate probabilists of the Society (he calls such Suarez, Vasquez, Lessius, Laymann, Lugo) .”Moderate probabilist. Vermeersch: in practice he thinks with the probabilists of the Society | Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 357 |
| Equiprobabilist | |
| Counted among them by 4 of our authors | Noldin, Summa I, n. 243; Marc, Institutiones I, n. 86; Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 53; Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 405; Prümmer, Manuale I, n. 341 |
Where Our Authors Discuss Him
Each read in its full passage; the words quoted are the author's own. Where several authors say the same thing, one is quoted and the others follow “in nearly the same words”; point at a name to see his words.
| “to speak only of the dead, Gury-Ballerini, S.J., Bishop Simar, Cardinal d'Annibale, Aertnys, C.SS.R., Cl. Marc, C.SS.R., Lehmkuhl, S.J., and Genicot, S.J., rightly excel”Vermeersch names him among the authors of the manuals of the nineteenth century that rightly excel | Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 21 |
| “Several writers of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, v.g., Aertnys, though not all, admit that he, after he had used probabiliorist teachers, through part of his life gave his vote to pure probabilism”Vermeersch counts him among the Redemptorist writers who admit that St. Alphonsus, not Aertnys himself, for part of his life held pure probabilism | Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 357 |
| “"And the things which afterward he wrote and discussed for defending equiprobabilism, from the years 1748 and 1755 (V. § 11) up to the end of his life, those were written chiefly to defend moderate probabilism against broad probabilism"; - and likewise R. P. Aertnys, C.SS.R., De Conscientia, n. 94: "In his first dissertations St. Alphonsus strenuously defended against the Probabiliorists the thesis of Probabilism, 'It is permitted to follow a probable opinion for liberty, the more probable for law having been left aside.' From this opinion the Holy Doctor never receded; but, to avert from probabilism the danger of laxity, afterward he judged that this moderation should be added as part of his system: 'It is not permitted to follow the benign opinion, when the opinion for law is certainly and notably more probable,' because an opinion of this sort is already, as we have declared, morally certain, and the other is not truly and solidly probable but only doubtful or slight...”Vermeersch quotes his De Conscientia, n. 94, that St. Alphonsus never left the thesis of probabilism, adding only a moderation against laxity | Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 357 |
| “And Joseph Aertnys, C.Ss.R., in his Moral Theology, Tournai, 1890, On Conscience, n. 69, says that according to the mind of St. Alphonsus "to the probable, very probable, more probable, there is opposed the probable or sufficiently probable; to the notably more probable, the most probable, there is opposed the slightly or doubtfully probable." This once established, who can any longer understand equiprobabilism according to the Holy Doctor?”Bucceroni: by Aertnys’s own account equiprobabilism becomes a mere abuse of words | Bucceroni, Commentarii, n. 130 |
| “J. Aertnys, C.SS.R.”Koch-Preuss name him among recent authors who use the Scholastic method for the practical needs of the confessor | Koch-Preuss, Handbook I, history of moral theology |
Works Our Authors Used
- Joseph Aertnys, C.SS.R. Fascicul. De Occasionariis et Recidivis et de usu matrimonii, according to the doctrine of St. Alphonsus; (2nd edition, Tournai and Bois-le-Duc, 1883). - Theologia moralis, Tournai, 1886, 2 vols. in-8. — Marc's list
- Aertnys, C.SS.R., Theologia Moralis, according to the doctrine of St. Alphonsus M. de Ligorio, 4th ed., Tournai, 1896; Theologia Pastoralis, second edition, Tournai, 1893. — Tanquerey's list
- Aertnys, Theologia moralis, tenth edition, adapted by P. Damen, 1919-20. — Tanquerey's list
- Aertnys, C.SS.R., Theologia moralis, Tournai, Casterman, 1896. — Tanquerey's list
- Aertnys, C.SS.R., Theologia Moralis, Tournai (Casterman), 1896. — Tanquerey's list
No article in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).