Moral Theology: Its Method and Masters
Adolphe Tanquerey
Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.
S.S. · Sulpician · 1854–1932
On this site: Synopsis of Moral and Pastoral Theology
In the Index: Tanquerey
His Moral System
Probabilism as the minimum, with prudent compensation
- “we admit probabilism, not indeed as a norm of perfection or of Christian life, but as a system from which there can be discerned the minimum which is required for avoiding sin” — Tanquerey, On Conscience, n. 413
- “ought to use a certain prudent compensation” — Tanquerey, On Conscience, n. 417
Life
Born 1 May 1854, Blainville, Normandy; died 21 February 1932, Aix-en-Provence. [New Catholic Encyclopedia]
- Trained at Coutances and Saint-Sulpice, Paris; doctor of theology 1878; a Sulpician. [New Catholic Encyclopedia]
- Taught dogmatic theology (and for a time canon law) at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, 1887–1895. [New Catholic Encyclopedia]
- Synopsis theologiae dogmaticae (1894); Synopsis theologiae moralis et pastoralis (1902; the preface signed at Baltimore, Pentecost 1902); Précis de théologie ascétique et mystique (1923). [New Catholic Encyclopedia; his preface, Baltimore, Pentecost 1902]
Sources: New Catholic Encyclopedia (2nd ed., 2003), as published on Encyclopedia.com; the title page or front matter of the work as hosted on this site. Each fact names where it was read; the links go to the page or entry itself.
What Our Authors Say of Him
- “is outstanding for solid doctrine and a more scientific manner of treating moral matters” — 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 one of our authors | Prümmer, Manuale I, n. 342 |
| “we admit probabilism, not indeed as a norm of perfection or of Christian life, but as a system from which there can be discerned the minimum which is required for avoiding sin”In his own words (Probabilism as the minimum, with prudent compensation) | Tanquerey, On Conscience, n. 413 |
| “Nevertheless we do not admit compensationism as a general system by which practical doubt can be solved; but we think that prudent confessors, in the use of equiprobabilism or probabilism, ought to use a certain prudent compensation: namely, to attend not only to what is licit, but also to what is expedient, and therefore diligently to weigh whether or not there is had a sufficient reason for counseling the use of such or such a probable opinion, in such a determinate case, with attention given not only to external circumstances, but also to the psychological dispositions of the penitent.”In his own words (Probabilism as the minimum, with prudent compensation) | Tanquerey, On Conscience, n. 417 |
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 these sayings consent, besides the alumni of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, very many distinguished theologians, such as Bellesheim (Katholik, 1891, II, p. 245), who thus speaks: "The texts are thus clearer than the midday light, so weighty, that an opponent must be silent: St. Alphonsus truly taught equiprobabilism." The same testify Schneider (Liter. Rundschau, 1895, col. 202), Koch (Tubing. Quart. Schr., 1897, p. 70-126), Mausbach (Die kath. Moral, p. 181), Berardi (Theol. fund., 1905, I, n. 55), Tanquerey (I, n. 405), Sweens (Theol. mor., 688).”Marc names him among the theologians who testify that St. Alphonsus was an equiprobabilist | Marc, Institutiones I, n. 87 |
| “A. Tanquery”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).