Moral Theology vol. 1: Law, Vice, & Virtue

St. Alphonsus Liguori's Moral Theology has long been praised and held in the highest regard by the Church, covering every moral question of his day. This first ever English translation features books 1-3 of the Theologia Moralis, on Conscience, Law, Sin and the Theological Virtues. Additionally, it contains several treatises on the saint on the use of equally probable opinion, the papacy, and more. St. Alphonsus comes highly recommended by the Catholic tradition.

Bl. Pope Pius IX declared: "It happened, not without the most provident counsel of God almighty, that since the doctrine of the Jansenist innovators turned all eyes to themselves, enticing many to the sight of their error and leading them over to it, it was then that Alphonsus Maria Liguori stood up, the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and the Bishop of St. Agatha of the Goths, who, 'fighting the good fight, opened his mouth in the midst of the Church'; and by his learned writings and labors eradicated this plague, roused from hell, and saw to it tear it out and so exterminate it from the field of the Lord. Not only did Alphonsus appoint these shares for himself, but focusing his mind on the glory of God and the spiritual salvation of men he wrote many books, related with holy erudition and piety, whose opinions were between those embraced by both more lax and rigid theologians, to fortify the safe path by which the confessors of Christ's faithful could advance without dashing their foot upon a stone; whether to train and establish the clergy, or to confirm the truth of the Catholic faith and to defend against the heretics of every kind or name; or to assert the laws of this Apostolic See; or to rouse the souls of the faithful to piety." Apostolic Letter Honoring St. Alphonsus with the title of Doctor of the Church]

The famous theologian Reginald Garrigou Lagrange, O.P. declared:

" The Casuistic method] was inefficacious in urging men to lead good lives, and] tends to laxism. ... But during this period there appeared a man, sent by God, to remedy the evils of casuistry. This man was St. Alphonsus Liguori, doctor of the Church, founder of the Redemptorists, renowned author of many works, ascetic and moral, highly praised by various popes. He is rather practical than speculative. As founder of aequiprobabilism, he cleansed casuistry from the defects of probabilism and laxism."

Reginald Garrigou-LagrangeBeatitude, c. II, p. 13.

"One of St. Alphonsus' names is Doctor Moralis, the moral doctor. This name is deserved for three reasons: 1) his work Theologia Moralis, translated into English here for the first time, as well as various other works, treated moral theology with a thoroughness like no other work of a prior saint. 2) St. Alphonsus was a true scholar by mastering virtually all contributors in the field of moral theology up to his own time. Like St. Thomas who was known for his synthesis of theology in general, St. Alphonsus is clearly a master of synthesizing the various moral authors throughout time. ... 3) He addressed moral problems that had not been addressed by St. Thomas himself or other authors. ... St. Alphonsus provides a thoroughness to moral theology which is very much needed today, in which approaches are often not based upon reality, the natural law, or sound reasoning."

Fr. Chad Ripperger, PhD

Mediatrix Press is pleased to bring you the first English Translation of this excellent work, once widely read but relegated to obscurity on account of the loss of Latin fluency in Western Society. Volume 1 embraces the first three Books of Alphonsus' Moral Theology.