Antonio Escobar y Mendoza

Born at Valladolid in 1589; died there, 4 July, 1669. In his sixteenth year he entered the Society of Jesus . Talent and untiring labour won him distinction for scholarship among the leaders of the ecclesiastical science in his age. His writings are recognized as classical and challenge criticism as far as orthodoxy is concerned. For this reason Pascal's effort (Fifth and Sixth Provincial Letters) to fasten the charge of laxism on Escobar's "Manuals of Cases of Conscience", together with his unscrupulous insinuations of adroit hypocrisy on Escobar's part, are too base and cowardly to merit serious consideration. At the same time it is only fair to add that Escobar's writings are not entirely beyond the pale of criticism. Unprejudiced critics find him inexact in quotations, subtle in discussion, obscure and loose in reasoning. Besides the "Manual", Escobar's chief works are "Summula Casuum conscientiæ" (Pamplona, 1626); "Examen et praxis confessariorum" (Lyons, 1647); "Theologia Moralis" (Lyons, 1650; Venice, 1652); "Universæ Theolgicæ Moralis receptæ sententiæ" (Lyons, 1663); "De Triplici Statu Ecclesiastico" (Lyons, 1663); "De Justitiâ et de legibus (Lyons, 1663).

Escobar was also a preacher of note. For fifty consecutive years he delivered a series of Lenten sermons with signal success.