Antonio Escobar y Mendoza

Who was Antonio Escobar y Mendoza?

Antonio Escobar y Mendoza was a Spanish churchman of illustrious descent.

Born in Valladolid, he was educated by the Jesuits, and at the age of fifteen took the habit of that order. He soon became a famous preacher. In addition he was a voluminous writer, and his collected works fill eighty-three volumes. His first literary efforts were Latin verses in praise of Ignatius Loyola and the Virgin Mary; but he is best known as a writer on casuistry. His principal works belong to the fields of exegesis and moral theology. Of the latter the best known are Summula casuum conscientiae; Liber theologiae moralis, and Universae theologiae moralis problemata.

The Summula was severely criticised by Blaise Pascal in the fifth and sixth of his Provincial Letters, as tending to inculcate a loose system of morality. It contains the famous maxim that purity of intention may be a justification of actions which are in themselves contrary to the moral code and to human laws; and its general tendency is to find excuses for human frailties. His doctrines were disapproved of by many Catholics, and were mildly condemned by Rome. They were also ridiculed in witty verses by Molière, Boileau and La Fontaine, and gradually the name Escobar came to signify in France any person who is adroit in making the rules of morality harmonize with his own interests, a casuist.