Peter Paludanus

Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.

Dominican · ?–1342

In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index

“Paludanus, Petrus, O.P., French (d. 1342), patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote besides many other works, cf. Quetif and Echard, Scriptores Ord. Praed. I, 603 sq., Commentaries on the third and fourth books of the Sentences, most diligently revised by Vinc. de Haerlem, 2 folio volumes, Paris 1514.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
[*: learned] “Paludanus (Petrus de Palude), French, Dominican, Patriarch of Jerusalem, died 1342.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XXVI, 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.

He wrote before the moral systems were formed (Medina first set out probabilism in 1577), so what is reported here is how each author reads the principles he followed, not a system he held. Our authors read him differently.

Before the systems: cited for probabilism
Counted among them by one of our authors	Bucceroni, Commentarii, n. 111
Before the systems: cited for the more probable opinion
Counted among them by one of our authors	Prümmer, Manuale I, n. 345

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.

“from the Friars Preachers, the Thomist Peter Paludanus (1312)”Vermeersch names him among the Friars Preachers of the fourteenth century	Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 18
“this last is noted in the decree of Gratian and is handed down by St. Bernard, Alexander of Hales, St. Bonaventure, William Peraldus, Paludanus”Merkelbach names him among those who hand down that a religious must do what the superior commands when it is not certainly illicit	Merkelbach, Summa II, excursus on the moral systems
“Thus Godfrey of Fontaines (Quodl. IX, a. 16), and Paludanus”Merkelbach: he prescribes to the confessor to respect the opinions of the penitent unless they are openly false	Merkelbach, Summa II, excursus on the moral systems
“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)

“Peter Paludanus”, vol. 11, by Daniel Joseph Kennedy. Public domain; transcription from Wikisource.

(PETRUS DE PALUDE)

A theologian and archbishop, born in the County of Bresse, Savoy, about 1275; died at Paris, 1342. He entered the Dominican Order at Lyons, completed his theological studies at the University of Paris, and was made a Doctor and Master of Theology in 1314. Wishing to devote his life to teaching and writing, he avoided all offices of honour in the order, except those pertaining to the direction of studies. Twice, however, he was sent as definitor from the Province of France to the General Chapter. John XXII, wishing to organize a Crusade, sent him in 1318 as legate to the Court of Flanders, in the hope of establishing peace between the prince and the King of France. The mission was not successful, and his associates made charges to the pope against the legate, who, however, easily cleared himself. He was also a member of the commission appointed by John XXII to examine the writings of Petrus Olivi, whose books contained some errors of the Fraticelli (Denzinger, 484-91, interesting account in Touron). About this time he wrote "De causa immediata ecclesiasticæ potestatis" (Paris, 1506) against John of Poilly, whose errors were condemned 25 July, 1321 (Denzinger, 491, 495). In 1329 the pope called him to Avignon, and consecrated him Patriarch of Jerusalem. The same year he journeyed into Egypt, to negotiate with the sultan for the deliverance of the Holy Land. The sultan was immovable. The accounts which the patriarch gave of the miserable condition of the Holy Land led to the announcement of another Crusade, but owing to apathy, and dissensions among the Christian princes, the project failed. Peter resumed his studies, composing at this time his commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, in which he combats Durandus. About 1332 he was appointed by the King of France to preside over the deliberations of a body of prelates and theologians whom Philip had convoked at Versailles to discuss the charge made against John XXII, of asserting that the souls of the just will not be admitted to the beatific vision until after the general judgment. The patriarch and his associates manifested consummate prudence in dealing with this matter. In a letter to the king they declared;

(1) their entire submission to the pope's authority, and their filial devotion to his person;

(2) their belief, based on the testimony of trustworthy witnesses, that John XXII had not held, much less taught, the opinion attributed to him, but at the most, had mentioned it (recitando) and examined it;

(3) that since the death of Christ the souls of the just with no faults to expiate immediately after death, and the souls of other just persons after complete purgation, are admitted to the beatific vision, which will endure forever.

This doctrine was defined by Benedict XII, 29 Jan., 1336 (Denzinger, 530). Besides the works mentioned, Paludanus wrote commentaries on all the books of the Bible, and "Concordantiæ ad Summam S. Thomæ" (Salamanca, 1552).

DU BOULAY, Cat. illustr. academ. Hist. Univ. Parisi, IV, 984 (Paris, 1673); QUÉTIF-ECHARD, Script. Ord. Prœd., I, 603 (Paris, 1719); TOURON, Hist. des hommes illustres de l'Ordre de S. Dom., II (Paris, 1745), 223; SIXTUS SENENSIS, Bibliot. Sancta, lib. IV (Venice, 1566, Lyons, 1591); see BENEDICT XII; DURANDUS; FRATICELLI; JOHN XXII.

D. J. KENNEDY