The Controversy about Probabilism and the Disagreement about its Use in the Society of Jesus Throughout the Study of Two Authors: Father Pedro de Calatayud (1689-1773) and Father Jerónimo Dutari (1671-1717)

Abstract

The Jesuit Tirso González Santalla was not only a prominent missionary but he also supported Probabiliorism against Probabilism and moral laxism. The presence of a trend in defence of moral rigour in the practice of confession can be traced among Spanish Jesuits, especially in the case of some of the major figures of Jesuit missionary activity in the eighteenth century: Father Jerónimo Dutari and Father Pedro de Calatayud. In this contribution, the author compares their proposals with the theses of the members of other religious orders who criticized the excesses of Probabilism and suggested greater rigour in moral practices. The aim of this work is to open new lines of investigation about Jesuit casuistry and to highlight its diversity. This contribution also addresses the coincidences between the different moral schools, which were not so strongly opposed, as we can conclude from a first approach to the controversial works of the period.

Keywords

• manuales de confesión
• probabilismo
• probabiliorismo
• jesuitas
• órdenes religiosas
• conversión.