Anthony Terill (Bonville)

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

Jesuit · 1623–1676

In Prümmer's Catalogue and Haringer's Index

“Terillus, Ant., S.J., English (1623-1676), is one of the principal defenders of Probabilism. He wrote: 1. Fundamentum totius theologiae moralis seu Tractatus de conscientia probabili, in 4to, Liege 1668. 2. Regula morum, in folio, there, 1678, a posthumous work.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
[**: weighty, probabilist] “Terillus Antonius, English, S.J., most erudite doctor and professor of Louvain, standard-bearer of the probabilists, as Amort says (On Probable Conscience, the Rule of Morals), around 1668.” — Haringer's index of writers (Gury-Ballerini) (p. XXX, 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	Tanquerey, Fundamental Moral Theology, n. 396
“standard-bearer of the probabilists, as Amort says”Haringer’s index, after Amort: the standard-bearer of the probabilists	Haringer, Index of writers
“until about the year 1638 practically all Catholic theologians of all schools accepted and taught probabilism”Slater, after Terill: until about 1638 practically all Catholic theologians accepted and taught probabilism	Slater, Short History, ¶ 87
“Fr. Terill, himself a strenuous defender of probabilism, raised his voice against the inrush of laxity”Slater: a strenuous probabilist, he raised his voice against laxity, required solid probability, and grounded the system on reflex principles	Slater, Short History, ¶ 88
“Now the rule of forming conscience is Probabilism, as Terillus proves at length in his treatise on the rule of morals.”Concina: Terillus proves at length that probabilism is the rule of forming conscience	Concina, Compendium II, diss. II, ch. IV, n. IV
“hear rather him who is easily the prince of the Probabilists, Fr. Antonio Terillus”Concina turns against the probabilists Terillus’s own lament over the authors who sowed laxity	Concina, Compendium II, diss. II, ch. IX, n. I
“Terillus Antonius, English, S.J., most erudite doctor and professor of Louvain, standard-bearer of the probabilists, as Amort says (On Probable Conscience, the Rule of Morals), around 1668.”Haringer marks him **, giving St. Alphonsus's judgment of him (weighty and probabilist)	Haringer's index, Index of writers, p. XXX

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.

“Hist., p. 35. b) Among theologians who opposed probabiliorism, very many teach that, in a conflict of opinions, the certainly or notably more probable one is to be followed. … The same teach Ferdinand Rebellus, S.J.; Antonius Perez, O.S.B.; Martinus a Prado, O.P.; Franciscus de Arauxo, O.P.; Antonius Cotonius, O.M.; Passerini de Sextula, O.P.; Esparza, S.J.; Terillus, S.J.; Gabriel Daniel, S.J.; Christ. Rassler, S.J.; Benedict Schmier, O.S.B.; Ant. Mayr, S.J.; Eusebius Amort; Jos. Biner, S.J.; and several others.”Marc names him among those who, against the probabiliorists, teach that the certainly or notably more probable opinion must be followed	Marc, Institutiones I, n. 100
“the limitation applied by Father Esparza, by Father Terillo”Sabetti-Barrett quote Gonzalez's judgment of his limitation on the use of the less safe opinion: necessary, but not enough	Sabetti-Barrett, Compendium, n. 64
“Fr. Terill, S.J., was a learned and acute theologian who taught theology at the English College of the Society at Liège”Slater follows his account of the origin of the dispute, prefixed to the Regula Morum (1676)	Slater, Short History, ¶ 87
“Terillus — easily the prince of reflex Probabilism”Concina answers his distinction between the judge, bound to the more probable, and the confessor, who follows the penitent’s opinion	Concina, Compendium II, diss. II, ch. V, n. V
“Be not affrighted, says the prince of the Probabilists, Fr. Terillus”Concina answers his rule that possession favors God and man alike	Concina, Compendium II, diss. II, ch. VII, n. II

In the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)

“Anthony Terill (Bonville)”, vol. 14, by Edward C. Phillips. Public domain; transcription from Wikisource.

English theologian, b. at Canford, Dorsetshire, in 1623; d. at Liège, 11 Oct., 1676. His mother was a Catholic but his father was estranged from the Faith, and in consequence the young Anthony was reared in heresy until his fifteenth year, when he was converted and left England, taking the alias Terill. He studied for about three years at the English College of St. Omer, and then began his studies for the priesthood at the English College, Rome, where he was ordained on 16 March, 1687. Two months later he entered the Jesuit novitiate at St. Andrea. After his noviceship he was successively penitentiary at Loreto, professor of philosophy at Florence, professor of philosophy and scholastic theology at Parma, director of theological studies and professor of theology and mathematics at the English College, Liège, and for three years rector of the same college where he died with a reputation for "extraordinary piety, talent, learning, and prudence". He wrote "Conclusiones philosophicæ" (Parma, 1657), "Problema mathematico-philosophicum de termino magnitudinis se virium in animalibus" (Parma, 1660), "Fundamentum totius theologiæ moralis, seu tractatus de conscientia probabili (Liège, 1668), and "Regula morum" which was published shortly after his death (Liège, 1677). His reputation as a moral theologian was established by these last two works. In the "Fundamentum" he ably defended the doctrine of probabilism and in the "Regula morum" refuted the objections brought against his first work by the Dominican Concina, the Jesuit Elizalde, and other exponents of the Rigorist School. Amort speaks of him as "eruditissimum et probabilistarum antsignanum".

FOLEY, Records of the English Province, S. J., III (London, 1878), 420; SOMMERVOGEL, Bib. de la Comp. de Jésus, VII (Brussels, 1896); HURTER, Nomenclator, II (Innsbruck, 1893), 275-276.

Edward C. Phillips.