RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eschatology Espen
ESCOBAR, MARINA DE: Spanish mystic; b. at Valladolid 1554; d. there July 9, 1633. She was a near relative of Antonio Escobar y Mendoza (q.v.), and a pupil and penitent of the Jesuit Ludovico da Ponte, who trained her in the spirit of his order. She attained renown by her extraordinary promotion of prayer of the heart, by her wonderful visions, and as a reformer of the Spanish branch of the Brigittines (see Bridget, Saint, op Sweden and the Brigittine Order). Many Roman Catholic writers term her "Blessed" and " Honorable," while Alban Stolz even calls her "Saint."
(O. ZSCKLERf.)
Bibliography: The original Vita was by F. Cachupin, 2 vols., Madrid, 1664-73, Lat. transl. by M. Hanel, Prague, 1672-88. Cf. KL, iv. 890-891.
ESCOBAR Y MENDOZA, ANTONIO: Spanish Jesuit; b. at Valladolid 1589; d. there July 4, 1669. He was a scion of a distinguished family of intense piety, and was noteworthy for his asceticism and his energy as a preacher and priest. His literary productivity was enormous, his works filling eightythree volumes. He began his literary career with the epics Sow Ignacio de Loyola (Valladolid, 1613) and Historia de la Virgen Madre de Dios (1618), but the remainder of his writings are devoted either to exegesis or to moral theology. To the former category belong, among others, In Evangelia Sanctorum commentarii (6 vols., Lyons, 1642- 1648); In Evangelia temporis commentarii (6 vols., 1647-48); Vetus ac Novum Testamentum litteralibus et moralibus commentariis illustratum (8 vols., 1652- 1667); and a number of commentaries on individual books of the Bible, among which special mention may be made of his In Cantica commentarii, sive de Maria, Deiparce elogiis (Lyons, 1669). The fame of Escobar is chiefly based, however, on his works on moral theology, of which the Summula casuum conscientim (Pampeluna, 1627) is the shortest, the Universal theologice moralis receptiores absque lite sententice (7 vols., Lyons, 1652-66) the longest, and the Liber theologies moralis viginti-quattuor Societatis Jesu doctoribus reseratus (1664) the best known. The last-named work summarizes the contributions of Escobar's chief predecessors to probabilistic casuistry. A certain apparent laxity in ethics exposed the author to many attacks, particularly from Pascal in his Lettres provinciales, while the Roman Catholic world gradually formed an unfavorable judgment of the work. The parliaments of Paris, Rennes, and Rouen condemned the book to be burned, and modern Jesuits disavow the work more or less completely.
(0. ZoCKLERf.) Bibliography: A. and A. de Backer, Bibliothcque des ecrivains de la compagnie de Jesus, ii. 172-176, Brussels, 1853; J. Huber, Der Jesuitenorden, pp. 282-315, Berlin, 1873; H. Hurter, Nomenclator literarius, ii. 229-231, Innsbruck, 1893; KL, iv. 892.
ESDRAELON. See Jezreel.
ESDRAS: Books of Old Testament Apocrypha. For I (or III) Esdras, see Apocrypha, A, IV., 1; for II (or IV) Esdras, see Pseudepigrapha, Old Testament, II., 7; for the pseudepigraphic V and VI Esdras, see Pseudepigrapha, Old Testament, II., 8.
IV.— 12
ESKIL: Archbishop of Lund; b. about 1102; d. at Clairvaux Sept. 6, 1181 (or 1182). He studied at the cathedral school of Hildesheim, was appointed canon, and later head keeper, at the cathedral in Lund, and in 1134 bishop of Roskilde. There he allied himself with Peder Bodilsen, a powerful lord, and succeeded in forcing King Erik Emune to flee Zealand. The king mustered fresh troops in Jutland, invaded Zealand, and forced the allies to surrender. Eskil escaped with a fine, but when, in 1137, he was elected archbishop of Lund by popular vote, the king refused to sanction his appointment, and the archbishopric remained vacant until the king's death (Sept. 18, 1137), when Eskil was finally invested with the dignity. As archbishop he took prominent part in the strife for the throne, and on one occasion was compelled to flee after breaking his oath of allegiance to one of the contestants. In 1139 he convened at Lund a provincial synod which was attended by bishops from Sweden, Norway, and the Faroe Islands; and during the following years he founded a Cistercian monastery at Herisvad, Sweden (1143), and a Benedictine cloister at Esrom (1144). After having taken part in a crusade against the Wends he visited his friend Bernard at Clairvaux (1152). Upon his return he was met by Cardinal Nicholas Breakspear (afterward Pope Adrian IV.), who had brought the pallium for an archbishop of Sweden, but as no archiepiscopal seat could be agreed upon the pallium was left with Eskil. He held it until 1164, when he transferred it to the first archbishop of Upsala. According to the pope's decision the archbishops of Lund were to retain the primacy of Sweden. In 1154, after the death of Bernard, Eskil again traveled to Clairvaux, later visiting Rome. On his way home he was imprisoned by some German knights, and as Emperor Frederick I. refused to intervene a rupture resulted between the emperor and the papal delegates. Eskil reached Denmark in time for the coronation of Waldemar I (1157). He took part in another crusade against the Wends, but in 1159 lost favor with the king, was forced to flee Denmark, and spent seven years at Clairvaux, at length receiving the king's permission to return to his archbishopric. In 1174 the pope refused him permission to retire to a monastery, but in 1177 he renewed his petition with success, and spent his last days at Clairvaux,
(F. NlELSENf.) Bibliography: Sources are: Saxo Grammaticus, Hist. Danica, book xiii., ed. G. Waitz in MGH, Script, xxix, (1892), 43-161; J. Langebek, Script, rer. Danicarum, consult the Index, ix. 194-195, Copenhagen, 1772-1878. Consult: H. Reuter, Geschichte Alexander des Dritten, Leipsic, 1860-64; C. F. W. I. Karup, Geschichte der katholischen Kirche in Danemark, Minister, 1863; KL, iv. 902-904.
ESKIMOS, MISSIONS TO THE. See Egede, Hans.