George Gobat (born at Charmoilles, in the Diocese of Basel, 1 July 1600; died 23 March 1679) was a French Jesuit theologian.

Life

Gobat entered the Society of Jesus, 1 June 1618. After teaching the humanities he was professor of sacred sciences at

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () ...

, Switzerland (1631–41), and of moral theology at the Jesuit college in Halle, Belgium (1641–44). He then was at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

(1644–47), rector at Halle (1647–51), and professor of moral theology at Ratisbon (1651–54). He was rector at Fribourg (1654–56), and professor of moral theology at Constance (1656–60), where he was also

canon penitentiary A canon penitentiary ( la, canon penitentiarius) is a member of the chapter at cathedral or collegiate churches, who acts as a general confessor of the diocese. He has ordinary jurisdiction in the internal forum, which power, however, he may not ...

of the cathedral, a post he retained until his death.

Works

Gobat's works include: * (Fribourg, 1633–34) * , a translation of a French work by Paul Ragueneau * , a collection of practical cases on the Sacraments (republished at Munich in 1669 and Constance in 1670 and 1672 as ) * a number of smaller works on the

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

These were republished several times in three volumes under the title , including at Douai in 1701 and Venice in 1749. Following the

casuistic In ethics, casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending theoretical rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and ...

method, Gobat applies questions of theology to contemporary conditions in Germany, drawing on his experiences in the confessional and on cases referred to him for settlement. Several of Gobat's doctrines were later condemned by the Holy See, including by Pope Innocent XI in 1679, the year of Gobat's death. , the

Bishop of Arras The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arras (–Boulogne–Saint-Omer) (Latin: ''Dioecesis Atrebatensis (–Bononiena–Audomarensis)''; French: ''Diocèse d'Arras (–Boulogne–Saint-Omer)'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church i ...

, published thirty-two propositions condemning the 1701 Douai edition of the . Writers in France, Germany, and Holland criticized the Jesuits based on this condemnation of Gobat's teaching; other Jesuits wrote in his defense. Works defending Gobat include (Liege, 1703) by Gabriel Daniel, and (Ingolstadt, 1706) by .

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **

Augustin de Backer Augustin de Backer (18 July 1809 in Antwerp, Belgium – 1 December 1873 in Liège, Belgium) was a Belgian Jesuit and renowned bibliographer. Early years and Formation De Backer left his country to be educated at the Jesuit schools of France ...

and

Carlos Sommervogel Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclope ...

, Bibl. des éscrivains de la comp. de Jésus; **

Ignaz von Döllinger Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger (; 28 February 179914 January 1890), also Doellinger in English, was a German theologian, Catholic priest and church historian who rejected the dogma of papal infallibility. Among his writings which proved con ...

and Franz Heinrich Reusch, Gesch. der moralstreitigkeiten in der röm.-kath. Kirche (Nördlingen, 1890, I, 292 sqq.; **

Hugo von Hurter The von Hurter family belonged to the Swiss nobility; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries three of them were known for their conversions to Roman Catholicism, their ecclesiastical careers in Austria and their theological writings. Friedri ...

, Nomenclator, s.v.; **'' Kirchenlexicon'', s.v.; **''Kirchliches handlexicon'', s.v. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gobat, George 1600 births 1679 deaths 17th-century French Jesuits 17th-century French Catholic theologians