MORAL THEOLOGY
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MORAL THEOLOGY
cundoR ; j'et there seems to be little ground for this sup- position, and Vincence should be counted here as a writer of merit. Gerson also deserves mention here for his valuable contributions to scholastic morals (as contained in vol. iii of the Antwerp edition of his works).
Mysticism, during the quarrels of the scholastics, de- veloped and flourished more than ever in the latter part of this (i4th) centurv', and brought forth much valua- ble fruit. Prominent among tliose who at this time gave to mysticism a popular, practical tendency were John Tauler (q. v.) and Henry Suso (q.v.). On the borders of the objective ecclesiastical and subjective un- ecclesiastical mysticism we meet John Ruj'sbroech, who is by Gerson ruled out of the Church writers as a here- tic (see Ullmann, Reformers before the Refoi-mation). But the greatest influence by far was exerted by Thomas :i Kempis, who, breaking away altogether from specu- lation, entered the practical popular road in his Imita- tion, to which we have already referred. But while thus gradually by this new mystical method morality was referred to inner feelings, aspirations, and conflicts, and by the scholastic method it was founded on systems of intellectual principles, prominence was given to the casuistical method, which limits itself to the determina- tion of duty in particular cases (casus conscientiaj) in practical life. Numerous works on casuistry, some of them designed for the use of the confessional, were pro- duced from the 13th to the IGth century, the principal of which are the Astesana, by a Minorite of Asti ; the An- gelica, by Angelus de Calvasio ; the Pisanella, also called the Maf/isfruccia, by Bartholomeo de Sancta Concor- dia, in Pisa ; the Rosella, by the Genoese aiinorite Trou- amala ; and tlie Monaldina, by archbishop jNIonaldus, of Benevento. Tlie Astesana treats, in eight books, of the divine commandments, of virtues and vices, of cove- nants and last wills, of the sacraments, of penance and extreme unction, of ordination, of ecclesiastical censures, and of marriage. The tendency of casuistry is to dissi- pate the essential unity of the Christian life in the tech- nical consideration of a diversity of works.
4. Modem Period. — Casuistry had begun to decline when it was revived and zealously improved by the Order of Jesuits, and became their peculiar ethics. The doctrine of probabilities was developed by them in con- nection with it. The number of writers who devoted themselves to this task is very large. We can only make room here for the more noted. Though rather a polemic than a moralist, Bellarmine (f 1G21) deserves to be first mentioned here because of the Jesuitic moral sentiments contained in his Disputatioms de contro- versiis Christiance fidei. He has, moreover, played his part as a mystico- ascetic writer. His Libri Hi de ffenitu Columbcs (Antw. 1617), and his Be ascensione mentis ia Deum per scalas reruni creatarum (Par. 1G06), are greatly valued by Romanists. But little less noted is Peter Canisius (f 1597), author of Summa doctrinm Christiance, a work which, though intended as an aid to catechetics, is yet much valued by Roman moralists be- cause of the many important hints which it furnishes them. Other Jesuitical moralists who deserve mention here are Francis of Toledo (f 1596), Summa casuum consdentice s. Instructorium sacerdotum in libb. viii dis- tinctum (Rome, 1602) ; Immanuel Sa (f 1596), Aphoris- mi confessariorum ex doctorum sententiis coUecti (ed. ult. Duac. 1627) ; John Azor (f 1600), In^titutiones Mo- rales (Rome, 1600 sq.) •, Gregory of Valentia (f 1603), Commentt. theol. et disputt. in Summam Thomm Aqui- natis; Gabriel Vasquez (f 1604), Commentt. et disputt. in Thorn. (Ingolst. 1606) ; Thos. Sanchez (f 1630), Opus Morale in jn-ascepta Decalogi (]\Iad. 1613) ; Disputationes de legibus ac Deo legislatoi-e in decern libros distributee (Lugd. 1613, et 0pp. t. xi) ; De Triplici virtute the- ologica, Fide, Spe et Caritaie (Aschaifenb. 1622 ; 0pp. xii) ; De Ultimo hominis Fine, voluntai-io et inrolunta- rio, humanorum actionum Bonitate. et Malitia, Passioni- bus, Habitibus, Vitiis et Peccatis (Mogunt. 1613 ; t, vi et VI.— O o
vii) ; Paul Laymann (f 1635), Theologia Moralis (Mo- nach. 1625) ; Vincence Filliatius (f 1622), Qiicestiones morales de Christianis officiis et casibus consdentice ad formam cursus, qui prcelegi solet in Sodetate Jesu Col- legia Rom. (Lugd. 1622 sq.) ; Leonhard Less (f 1623), lib. iv, De Justitia et Jure cceterisque virtutibus cardi- nalibus ad Secundum Secundce Thomas (Lugd. 1630) ; Fer- dinand de Castro Palao (f 1633), Opus Morale de Virtu- tibus et Vitiis (Lugd. 1633 sq.) ; John de Lugo (f 1660), Disputt. de Sacj-amentis, etc.
Pascal, and others with him, though not so ably as he, assailed the indefiniteness and ambiguity of casuist- ical principles as espoused by many of these Jesuitic moralists [see Piiobabilism] : as the adequate type of whom it should, however, be stated here that the J/e- dulki of Hermann Busenbaum, which is the basis of the Theologia Morcdis of Liguori, attained the highest rep- utation. Busenbaum's work is truly the embodiment of Jesuitical ethics. It appeared first in 1645 at Mun- ster, and passed through fifty editions, enjoying a cir- culation like that of no other moral compend ; and yet this was not the end, for its embodiment into the The- ologia Mo7xdis of Liguori gave it another lease of life, and thus the Medulla may be said to have enjoj'ed a two-hundred-years' rule. See, however, our article Li- GUOKi. The Medulla was also used and commented upon by Claude Lacroix and Francis Anth. Zacharia. Of like tendency are the writings of Taberna, Viva, Mazotta, Francolinus, 4ind Edm. Voit. The casuistico- moral treatise of the last named is now, after Liguori's, the great favorite of Romanists, especiall}' of Jesiuts and Ultramontanes, and has in recent years been re- peatedly published at Rome and Paris.