ANTONIO ESCOBAR Y

See also:

• MENDOZA
• MENDOZA, ANTONIO HURTADO DE (1593?-1644)
• MENDOZA, DIEGO HURTADO DE (1503-1575)
• MENDOZA, PEDRO GONZALEZ DE (1428-1495)

MENDOZA (1589—1669)  , Spanish churchman of illustrious descent, was born at Valladolid in 1589 . He was educated by the Jesuits, and at the age of fifteen took the habit of that order . He soon became a famous preacher, and his facility was so great that for fifty years he preached daily, and sometimes twice a day . In addition he was a voluminous writer, and his works fill eighty-three volumes . His first literary efforts were Latin verses in praise of Ignatius Loyola (1613) and the Virgin Mary (1618); 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 (1627); Liber theologiae moralis (1644), and Universae theologiae moralis problemata (1652—1666) . The first mentioned of these was severely criticised by 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 contrary to the moral code and to human laws; and its general tendency is to find excuses for the majority of human frailties . His doctrines were disapproved of by many Catholics, and were mildly condemned by Rome . They were also ridiculed in witty verses by Moliere, Boileau and La Fontaine, and gradually the name Escobar came to be used in France as a synonym for a person who is adroit in making the rules of morality harmonize with his own interests . Escobar himself is said to have been simple in his habits, a strict observer of the rules of his order, and unweariedly zealous in his efforts to reform the lives of those with whom he had to deal .

It has been said of him that " he

purchased heaven dearly for himself, but gave it away cheap to others." He died on the 4th of July 1669 .