Moral Theology: Its Method and Masters
Antonio Escobar y Mendoza
Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.
Jesuit · 1589–1669
In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index
- “Escobar y Mendoza, Ant., S.J., Spanish (1589-1669), wrote: 1. Universae theologiae moralis ... disquisitiones, 7 folio volumes, Lyons 1652-1663. 2. Liber theologiae moralis 24 S. J. doctoribus reseratus, very often edited. It is known to everyone how vehemently and unjustly Pascal attacked this author in the Lettres provinciales.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
- [**: weighty, probabilist] “Escobar Antonius de, of Valladolid, S.J. (Universal Moral Theology), born 1589, died 1669.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XVII, sign read on the page)
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.
| Probabilist | |
|---|---|
| Counted among them by one of our authors | Bucceroni, Commentarii, n. 108 |
| “Anthony de Escobar (+ 1669), a more benign probabilist” | Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 47 |
| “This probabilistic doctrine being admitted, Christians can straightway abolish the greatest part of the natural, divine, and civil laws. Let them take up the books of Diana, of Zanardi, of Candidus, of Tamburini, of Escobar, of Gobat, of La-Croix, of Viva. Let them gather a most numerous catalogue of the opinions which are probably disputed on both sides concerning natural, divine, and human law.”Concina names his books as storehouses of opinions controverted on both sides, which probabilism would make laws no longer binding | Concina, Compendium II, diss. II, ch. VII, n. XII |
| “Escobar Antonius de, of Valladolid, S.J. (Universal Moral Theology), born 1589, died 1669.”Haringer marks him **, giving St. Alphonsus's judgment of him (weighty and probabilist) | Haringer's index, Index of writers, p. XVII |
| Charged with laxity | |
| Counted among them by 2 of our authors | Koch-Preuss, Handbook I, the moral systems; Merkelbach, Summa II, excursus on the moral systems |
| “Among the Laxists Escobar y Mendoza (+ 1669) also is sometimes named”Prümmer: sometimes named among the laxists and some opinions too indulgent, but not deserving Pascal’s attacks | Prümmer, Manuale I, n. 343 |
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.
| “They have set themselves to leafing through everything that Escobar wrote in Spain, Bauny in France, Laymann in Germany, Filliucius in Italy” | Daniel, Apology, ¶ 149 |
| “Antony Escobar (+ 1669)”Koch-Preuss name him among the best-known moralists from the close of the sixteenth century | Koch-Preuss, Handbook I, history of moral theology |
In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
“Antonio Escobar y Mendoza”, vol. 5, by James David O'Neill. Public domain; transcription from Wikisource.
Escobar y Mendoza, Antonio, b. at Valladolid in 1589; d. there July 4, 1669. In his sixteenth year he entered the Society of Jesus. Talent and untiring labor won him distinction for scholarship among the leaders of ecclesiastical science in his age. His writings are recognized as classical and challenge criticism as far as their orthodoxy is concerned. For this reason Pascal's efforts (fifth and sixth Provincial Letters) to fasten the charge of laxism on Escobar's "Manual of Cases of Conscience", together with his unscrupulous insinuations of adroit hypocrisy on Escobar's part, are too base and cowardly to merit serious consideration. At the same time, it is only fair to add that Escobar's writings are not entirely beyond the pale of criticism. Unprejudiced critics find him inexact in quotations, subtle in discussion, obscure and loose in reasoning. Besides the "Manual", Escobar's chief works are: "Summula casuum conscientiæ" (Pamplona, 1626); "Examen et praxis confessariorum" (Lyons, 1647); "Theologia Moralis" (Lyons, 1650; Venice, 1652); "Universae Theologicae Moralis receptae sententiae" (Lyons, 1663); "De Triplici Statu Ecclesiastico" (Lyons, 1663); "De Justitiâ et de legibus" (Lyons, 1663).
Escobar was also a preacher of note. For fifty consecutive years he delivered a series of Lenten sermons with signal success.
J. D. O'NEILL