Hermann Busenbaum (or Busembaum) (19 September 160031 January 1668) was a Jesuit theologian. He attained fame as a master of

casuistry 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 ju ...

Biography

He was born at

Nottuln Nottuln (; Low German: ''Notteln'') is a municipality in the district of Coesfeld in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Nottuln is situated in the Baumberge, approx. 20 km west of Münster. Neighbouring municipalities ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

). He entered the Jesuit order in 1619, and taught scholastic and moral theology in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. He became rector of the Jesuit college at

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...

and then at

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

, where he died on 31 January 1668, being at the time father-confessor to Bishop Christoph von Galen.

''Medulla''

His book ''Medulla theologiae moralis, facili ac perspicua methodo resolvens casus conscientiae'' (1645) grew out of his lectures to students at Cologne. The manual obtained a wide popularity and passed through over two hundred editions before 1776. Although less bold in its declarations than some other Jesuit books, such as, for example, the ''Defensio Fidei'' (1613) of

Francisco Suarez Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

, it was the most complete and systematized in its exposition, and served as a type for succeeding treatises of the sort. The theology of ''Medulla'' was generally well received within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The book was published in all the major European centers of Catholicism and was widely used in seminaries as a manual on practical

moral theology Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics"/ref> A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply sati ...

for 200 years. It received positive commentary from theologians including St. Alphonsus de Liguori, a Doctor of the Church. The book met no significant opposition until Claude Lacroix (1652-1714) added considerably to its bulk. His editions in two folio volumes appeared in both Germany (1710–1714) and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

(1729). In these editions, the sections on murder and especially on

regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

were much amplified, and in connection with Damiens' attempt on the life of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

the book was severely handled by the parlement of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. At

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

in 1757, though the offending sections were repudiated by the heads of the Jesuit colleges, the ''Medulla'' was publicly burned, and the episode undoubtedly led the way to the

duc de Choiseul {{Unreferenced, date=April 2019 Choiseul is an illustrious noble family from Champagne, France, descendants of the comtes of Langres. The family's head was Renaud III de Choiseul, comte de Langres and sire de Choiseul, who in 1182 married Alix ...

's attack on the Jesuits.

Other writings

Busenbaum also wrote a book on the ascetic life, ''Lilium inter spinas''.

Notes

External links

* * * *
Hermann Busembaum in the Historical Archives of the Pontifical Gregorian University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Busenbaum, Hermann 17th-century German Catholic theologians 17th-century German Jesuits 1600 births 1668 deaths German male non-fiction writers Jesuit theologians Roman Catholic moral theologians German Roman Catholic theologians 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers