Theologian · Early modern
St. Alphonsus Liguori
1696–1787 · Alphonsian moral theology (equiprobabilism)
Doctor of the Church (Doctor Zelantissimus), canonized 1839, declared Doctor 1871; patron of confessors and moral theologians (1950).
Neapolitan lawyer turned priest, founder of the Redemptorists and bishop of Sant'Agata, Alphonsus wrote the Moral Theology that steered between Jansenist rigorism and laxism by equiprobabilism: a doubtful law does not bind, but one may follow an opinion favoring liberty only when it is as probable as the one favoring the law. His devotional works (The Glories of Mary, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ) and his teaching on prayer as the “great means of salvation” reached millions.
Why he matters: The Church made him her teacher of the confessional: Gregory XVI declared his opinions could be followed safely, and his pastoral realism, his Marian devotion and his insistence on frequent Communion shaped Catholic practice down to the twentieth century.
Reading
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Prayer: The Great Means of SalvationSt. Alphonsus Liguori · “He who prays is certainly saved”; his spiritual core in a short book.
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Moral Theology, Vol. I (Book I: Conscience and Law)St. Alphonsus Liguori (trans. Ryan Grant) · Equiprobabilism from the source.
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The Practice of the Love of Jesus ChristSt. Alphonsus Liguori · A commentary on 1 Corinthians 13 for everyone.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.