Moral Theology: Its Method and Masters
Paul Laymann
Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.
S.J. · Jesuit · 1574–1635
On this site:
In the Index: Laymann
His Moral System
Probabilist ("weighty and probabilist", St. Alphonsus's judgment by Haringer's sign **)
- “A man profoundly learned and, what is rare, most modest and most humble.” — Gury-Ballerini, Haringer's index of writers
What Our Authors Say of Him
- “equally skilled in moral theology and in canon law, wrote works distinguished by clarity and solidity” — 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.
| Probabilist | |
|---|---|
| Counted among them by 6 of our authors | Marc, Institutiones I, n. 91; Bucceroni, Commentarii, n. 108; Slater, Short History, ¶ 86; Konings, Compendium, n. 79; Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 357; Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 47; Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 397 |
| “Almost all theologians of the Society of Jesus adhere to Probabilism”Prümmer: almost all the theologians of the Society of Jesus adhere to probabilism, he among them | Prümmer, Manuale I, n. 342 |
| “Laymannus Paulus, German, S.J., born at Innsbruck, taught philosophy, moral theology, and canon law, of which he was most expert, at Ingolstadt, Munich, and Dillingen. A man profoundly learned and, what is rare, most modest and most humble. In canon law, which he also illustrated with commentaries, he was held in such esteem that even secular doctors of other academies took care to have his dictat”Haringer marks him **, giving St. Alphonsus's judgment of him (weighty and probabilist) | Haringer's index, Index of writers, p. XXI |
| “These agree in substantial matters with the equiprobabilists, and can be called moderate probabilists. Such are Suarez, Vasquez, Lugo, Lessius, Laymann, Sylvius, Palaus, Viva, Abelly, Reuter, Voit, etc.”Moderate probabilist. Marc calls him a moderate probabilist, agreeing in substance with the equiprobabilists, and will not attack him | Marc, Institutiones I, n. 86 |
| “Fr. Paul Laymann, the most moderate of all the Probabilists”Moderate probabilist. Concina quotes him on counselling opposite opinions to different persons as “the whole secret of Probabilism laid open” | Concina, Compendium II, diss. II, ch. III, n. XII |
| Charged with laxity | |
| “Chapter II — The lax opinions of several Casuists … LVII. Fr. Paul Layman, Book III, tract 4, chap. 18, no. 2: “A citizen for the greater part of the year has money ready, out of which he may give a loan to needy craftsmen, especially weavers, a pledge being left him for the security of payment, for example a web.”Concina's censuses of lax opinions list 2 of his opinions and names him in 1 more as teaching or approving one (the first is quoted; every one is under 'Where Our Authors Discuss Him') | Concina, Compendium II, bk. IX, diss. I, ch. II, n. LVII |
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.
| “Others treat the whole of moral theology solidly indeed, but less scholastically: Azor, S.J. (1603); Castropalao, S.J. (1633); P. Laymann, S.J. (1635)”Among the ablest and most esteemed moralists | Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 19In nearly the same words: Marc, Institutiones I, n. 6; Koch-Preuss, Handbook I, history of moral theology |
| “The same Lessius, in the place cited, no. 90: The third mode is this. If I had destined money for trade, and they should ask a loan: concerning which mode” | Concina, Compendium II, bk. IX, diss. I, ch. II, n. XLVII |
| “Chapter II — The lax propositions of the casuists … XII. Fr. Paul Layman, Book 5, tract 4, chapter 5, no. 4: “A sick man a little before, say eight or ten days, communicated, when he was well, thinking nothing of the danger of death: then …” “then he is not bound to communicate again, having fallen into sickness.””Concina lists among the lax opinions of the casuists (on the sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist and the Mass) | Concina, Compendium II, bk. X, diss. I, ch. II, n. XII |
| “Likewise S. D. calls that doctrine lax which authors of the past century almost commonly handed down, namely in the latter part of that century, in which several lax opinions of probabilists were condemned by the Holy See; but certainly not Sanchez, Suarez, Lessius, Palaus, Laymann, Lugo, Pallavicini and very many others, whom S. Alph. himself, not only in his Moral Works, but in that very Dissertation on his moral system, approves and praises for his opinion.”Bucceroni: not among the authors St. Alphonsus called lax, but among those he approves and praises | Bucceroni, Institutiones, n. 133 |
| “The precept of loving God above all things, insofar as it is affirmative, obliges only at certain times”Daniel quotes him among the Jesuit theologians who taught the strict precept of loving God | Daniel, Apology, ¶ 65 |
| “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 |
| “Now he is esteemed a great theologian who possesses the greatest authority among theologians on account of his distinguished doctrine, prudence, and probity”Konings names him among the great theologians whose word that an opinion is probable makes it so | Konings, Compendium, n. 57 |
In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
“Paul Laymann”, vol. 9, by Michael Ott. Public domain; transcription from Wikisource.
Laymann, Paul, a famous Jesuit moralist, b. in 1574 at Arzl, near Innsbruck; d. of the plague on 13 November, 1635, at Constance. After studying jurisprudence at Ingolstadt, he entered the Jesuit Order there in 1594, was ordained priest in 1603, taught philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt from 1603-9, moral theology at the Jesuit house in Munich from 1609-25, and canon law at the University of Dillingen from 1625-32. He was one of the greatest moralists and canonists of his time, and a copious writer on philosophical, moral, and juridical subjects. The most important of his thirty-three literary productions is a compendium of moral theology "Theologia Moralis in quinque libros partita" (Munich, 1625), of which a second and enlarged edition in six volumes appeared in 1626 at the same place. Until the second quarter of the eighteenth century it was edited repeatedly (latest edition, Mainz, 1723), and was extensively used as a textbook in seminaries. Especially in the third edition of his "Theologia Moralis", Laymann stands up resolutely for a milder treatment of those who had been accused of witchcraft. The reason why Laymann is often represented as an advocate of the horrible cruelties practised at trials for witchcraft lies in the false assumption that he is the author of a book entitled "Processus juridicus contra sagas et vene fico." (Cologne, 1629). Quite in contrast with Laymann's "Theologia Moralis", this book is a defence of the extreme severity at trials for witchcraft. Father Duhr, S.J., has now proved beyond doubt that Laymann is not the author of this work. See "Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie", XXIII (Innsbruck, 1899), 733-43; XXIV (1900), 585-92; XXV (1901), 166-8; XXIX (1905), 190-2. At the instance of Bishop Heinrich von Knöringen of Augsburg, Laymann wrote "Pacis compositio inter Principes et Ordines Imperii Romani Catholicos atque Augustanæ Confessionis adhærentes" (Dillingen, 1629), an elaborate work of 658 pages, explaining the value and extent of the Religious Peace of Augsburg, effected by King Ferdinand I in 1555. Another important work of Laymann is entitled "Justa defensio S. Rom. Pontificis, augustissimi Cæsaris, S.R.E. Cardinalium, episcoporum, principum et alioram, demum minimæ Societatis Jesu, in causa monasteriorum extinctorum et bonorum ecclesiasticorum vacantium . . ." (Dillingen, 1631). It treats of the Edict of Restitution, issued by Ferdinand II in 1629, and sustains the point that in case of the ancient orders the property of suppressed monasteries need not be restored to the order to which these monasteries belonged, because each monastery was a corporation of its own. Such property, therefore, may be applied to Catholic schools and other ecclesiastical foundations. In the case of the Jesuit Order, however, he holds that all confiscated property must he restored to the order as such, because the whole Jesuit Order forms only one corporation. His work on canon law, "Jus Canonicum seu Commentaria in libros decretales" (3 vols., Dillingen, 1666-98), was published after his death.
Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de La Compagnie de Jésus (Brussels and Paris, 1890-1909), IV, 1582-94; Schwickerath, Attitude of the Jesuits in the trials for witchcraft in American Cath. Quarterly Review, XXVII (Philadelphia, 1902), 493-8; Specht, Geschichte der Universität Dillingen (Freiberg im Br., 1902), 325, etc.
Michael Ott.