Moral Theology: Its Method and Masters
Clement Marc
Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.
C.SS.R. · Alphonsian (Redemptorist) · 1831–1887
On this site: Institutiones Morales Alphonsianae
In the Index: Marc, C.
His Moral System
Equiprobabilism
- “In doubt concerning the existence of a law, when there concur opinions equally or almost equally probable, it is lawful to follow the opinion favoring liberty.” — Marc, n. 90
Life
Born 24 July 1831, Jouy-sous-les-Côtes, diocese of Verdun; died 27 January 1887, Rome. [Redemptorist sources]
- Professed as a Redemptorist at Saint-Nicolas-du-Port, 24 September 1853; ordained at Téterchen, 16 August 1857. [Redemptorist sources]
- Taught moral theology at Téterchen. [Redemptorist sources]
- Institutiones morales Alphonsianae (Rome, 1885): eighteen editions by 1928 (Prümmer), the twentieth at Lyons in 1943 (CSSR); after his death other editors revised it (preface of the fifteenth edition, hosted here). [Redemptorist sources; Prümmer, Catalogue of authors; preface of the fifteenth edition]
- He caught smallpox while attending those sick with it, and died of it. [Redemptorist sources]
Sources: Sant'Alfonso e dintorni (santalfonsoedintorni.it): Redemptorist biographies after the Dictionary CSSR (Boland) and Analecta CSSR; 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.
Lineage
- “Raus, J. B., C.Ss.R., Luxembourger, re-edited the Institutiones Mor. Alphonsian.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
What Our Authors Say of Him
- “wrote a work eminent for clarity and solidity of doctrine, entitled Institutiones morales Alphonsianae” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
- “Aertnys, C.SS.R., Cl. Marc, C.SS.R., Lehmkuhl, S.J., and Genicot, S.J., rightly excel” — Vermeersch, n. 21
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.
| Equiprobabilist | |
|---|---|
| Counted among them by 3 of our authors | Noldin, Summa I, n. 243; Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 53; Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 405; Prümmer, Manuale I, n. 341 |
| “The more recent ones (Marc, Gaude) think that the holy doctor later revoked the probabilism to which he had adhered at the beginning and taught equiprobabilism”Noldin: among the more recent equiprobabilists, he thinks St. Alphonsus revoked his early probabilism and taught equiprobabilism | Noldin, Summa I, n. 250 |
| “(B) Equiprobabilism is set forth. It can be contracted into these three propositions, according to C. Marc (n. 91-103): Besides St. Alphonsus, Systema morale, cf. Marc, op. cit., n. 88-108; Konings, n. 63-96; Aertnys, n. 80-121; Gousset, Theol. Morale, n. 79-88; Wouters, De minusprobabilismo, 1905.”Tanquerey sets out equiprobabilism in his three propositions | Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 406 |
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 |
| “Marc, of the same Congregation, declares himself by no means hostile to the moderate probabilists of the Society”Vermeersch notes that he declares himself by no means hostile to the moderate probabilists of the Society | Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 357 |
| “C. Marc (+ 1887 )”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 |
No article in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).