Franz Xaver von Baader

 Baal, Baalim

 Baalbek

 Babel

 Ludwig Babenstuber

 Jacques Babinet

 St. Babylas

 Babylon

 Babylonia

 Synod of Baccanceld

 Bacchylus

 Bachiarius

 Paul Bachmann

 Augustin de Backer

 Peter Hubert Evermode Backx

 David William Bacon

 John Bacon

 Nathaniel Bacon

 Baconian System of Philosophy

 Diocese of Badajoz

 Grand Duchy of Baden

 Tommaso Badia

 Stephen Theodore Badin

 Raphael Badius

 John Jacob Baegert

 François Baert

 Suitbert Bæumer

 Vicariate Apostolic of Bagamoyo

 Bagdad

 Bageis

 Cavaliere Giovanni Baglioni

 Diocese of Bagnorea

 Jean Bagot

 Christopher Bagshaw

 Bahama Islands

 Thomas Bailey

 Charles-François Baillargeon

 Adrien Baillet

 Pierre Bailloquet

 Thomas Baily

 Christopher Bainbridge

 Peter Augustine Baines

 Ralph Baines

 Abbate Giuseppe Baini

 St. Baithen

 Michel Baius

 Ven. Charles Baker

 David Augustine Baker

 Francis Asbury Baker

 Diocese of Baker City

 Thomas Bakócz

 Balaam

 Balanaea

 St. Balbina

 Boleslaus Balbinus

 Vasco Nuñez de Balboa

 Bernardo de Balbuena

 Hieronymus Balbus

 Baldachinum of the Altar

 Jacob Balde

 Balderic (Baudry)

 Balderic

 Bernardino Baldi

 Bl. Anthony Baldinucci

 Alesso Baldovinetti

 St. Baldred

 Hans Baldung

 Baldwin

 Francis Baldwin

 Baldwin of Canterbury

 Balearic Isles

 Ven. Christopher Bales

 Mother Frances Mary Teresa Ball

 Diocese of Ballarat

 Girolamo and Pietro Ballerini

 Henry Balme

 Jaime Luciano Balmes

 Balsam

 Theodore Balsamon

 Baltasar

 Archdiocese of Baltimore

 Plenary Councils of Baltimore

 Provincial Councils of Baltimore

 Jean François Baltus

 Jean Balue

 Etienne Baluze

 Ven. Edward Bamber

 Archdiocese of Bamberg

 Banaias

 Louis Bancel

 Matteo Bandello

 Anselmo Banduri

 Domingo Bañez

 Antiphonary of Bangor

 Diocese of Bangor

 Bangor Abbey

 John and Michael Banim

 Diocese of Banjaluka

 Civil Aspect of Bankruptcy

 Moral Aspect of Bankruptcy

 Banns of Marriage

 John Bapst

 Baptism

 Baptismal Font

 Baptismal Vows

 Bl. Baptista Mantuanus

 Baptistery

 Baptistines

 Baptists

 Barac

 Jacob Baradæus

 Frederic Baraga

 Ven. Madeleine-Sophie Barat

 Nicolas Barat

 Alvaro Alonzo Barba

 Barbalissos

 St. Barbara

 Giovanni Francesco Barbarigo

 Diocese of Barbastro

 Felix-Joseph Barbelin

 Barber Family

 Giovanni Barbieri

 Agostino Barbosa

 Ignacio Barbosa-Machado

 John Barbour

 Paulus Barbus

 Barca

 Diocese of Barcelona

 University of Barcelona

 Alonzo de Barcena

 John Barclay

 William Barclay

 Martin del Barco Centenera

 Martin de Barcos

 Henry Bard

 Bardesanes and Bardesanites

 Bar Hebræus

 Archdiocese of Bari

 Barjesus

 Moses Bar-Kepha

 Ven. Mark Barkworth

 Barlaam and Josaphat

 Gabriel Barletta

 Abbey of Barlings

 Ven. Edward Ambrose Barlow

 William Rudesind Barlow

 Epistle of Barnabas

 St. Barnabas

 Barnabas of Terni

 Barnabites

 Federigo Baroccio

 Barocco Style

 Bonaventura Baron

 Vincent Baron

 Ven. Cesare Baronius

 Diocese of Barquisimeto

 Sebastião Barradas

 Louis-Mathias, Count de Barral

 Joachim Barrande

 Jacinto Barrasa

 Antoine-Lefebvre, Sieur de la Barre

 Balthasar Barreira

 Lopez de Barrientos

 João de Barros

 John Barrow

 Ven. William Barrow

 Augustin Barruel

 John Barry (1)

 John Barry (2)

 Patrick Barry

 Paul de Barry

 Johann Caspar Barthel

 Jean-Jacques Barthélemy

 Francesco della Rossa Bartholi

 Bartholomaeus Anglicus

 Bartholomew

 St. Bartholomew

 Ven. Bartholomew of Braga

 Bartholomew of Braganca

 Bartholomew of Brescia

 Bartholomew of Edessa

 Bartholomew of Lucca

 Bartholomew of Pisa

 Bartholomew of San Concordio

 Bartholomites

 Daniello Bartoli

 Giulio Bartolocci

 Fra Bartolommeo

 Francesco Bartolozzi

 Elizabeth Barton

 Baruch

 Liturgy of Saint Basil

 Rule of Saint Basil

 Basilians

 Basilica (stoa basilike)

 Basilides (1)

 Basilides (2)

 Basilinopolis

 Basilissa

 Basil of Amasea

 Basil of Seleucia

 St. Basil the Great

 Ecclesiastical Use of Basin

 Council of Basle

 Diocese of Basle-Lugano

 Bas-relief

 Bassein

 Joshua Bassett

 Matthew of Bassi

 Bassianus

 Claude-Frédéric Bastiat

 Guillaume-André-Réné Baston

 Prefecture Apostolic of Basutoland

 Vicariate Apostolic of Batavia

 Bath Abbey

 Bath and Wells

 William Bathe

 St. Bathilde

 Diocese of Bathurst

 Marco Battaglini

 Charles Batteux

 Giovanni Giuda Giona Battista

 Battle Abbey

 Wilhelm Bauberger

 Nicolas Baudeau

 Michel Baudouin

 Gallus Jacob Baumgartner

 Louis Baunard

 Etienne Bauny

 Louis-François de Bausset

 Louis-Eugène-Marie Bautain

 Fray Juan Bautista

 Kingdom of Bavaria

 William Bawden

 Adèle Bayer

 Francisco Bayeu y Subias

 Diocese of Bayeux

 James Roosevelt Bayley

 Joseph Bayma

 Diocese of Bayonne

 Guido de Baysio

 John Stephen Bazin

 Use of Beads at Prayers

 Beard

 Aubrey Beardsley

 Beatific Vision

 Beatification and Canonization

 Mount of Beatitudes

 Eight Beatitudes

 David Beaton

 James Beaton (1)

 James Beaton (2)

 Beatrix

 Lady Margaret Beaufort

 Beaulieu Abbey

 Beaufort, Henry

 Renaud de Beaune

 Jean-Nicolas Beauregard

 Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard

 Diocese of Beauvais

 Gilles-François-de Beauvais

 Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Marie de Beauvais

 Roch-Amboise-Auguste Bébian

 Abbey of Bec

 Martin Becan

 John Beccus

 Bl. John Beche

 Georg Philipp Ludolf von Beckedorff

 Thomas Andrew Becker

 Pierre-Jean Beckx

 Antoine-César Becquerel

 Pierre Bédard

 Bede

 Ven. Bede

 Gunning S. Bedford

 Henry Bedford

 Frances Bedingfeld

 Sir Henry Bedingfeld

 Cajetan Bedini

 Bedlam

 Ian Theodor Beelen

 Beelphegor

 Beelzebub

 Ven. George Beesley

 Francesco Antonio Begnudelli-Basso

 Beguines and Beghards

 Albert von Behaim

 Martin Behaim

 Beirut

 Diocese of Beja

 John Belasyse

 Ven. Thomas Belchiam

 Archdiocese of Belem do Pará

 Belfry

 Belgium

 Belgrade and Smederevo

 Giacopo Belgrado

 Belial

 Belief

 Albert (Jean) Belin

 Ven. Arthur Bell

 James Bell

 Jerome Bellamy

 John Bellarini

 Ven. Robert Francis Romulus Bellarmine

 Edward Bellasis

 Aloysius Bellecius

 John Bellenden

 Diocese of Belleville

 Diocese of Belley

 Sir Richard Bellings

 Bellini

 Jean-Baptiste de Belloy

 Bells

 Diocese of Belluno-Feltre

 François Vachon de Belmont

 Ven. Thomas Belson

 Henri François Xavier de Belsunce de Castelmoron

 Giambattista Belzoni

 Pietro Bembo

 Prefecture Apostolic of Benadir

 Laurent Bénard

 Fray Alonzo Benavides

 Benda

 Pope Benedict I

 Pope St. Benedict II

 Pope Benedict III

 Pope Benedict IV

 Pope Benedict V

 Pope Benedict VI

 Pope Benedict VII

 Pope Benedict VIII

 Pope Benedict IX

 Pope Benedict X

 Pope Benedict XI

 Pope Benedict XII

 Pope Benedict XIII

 Pope Benedict XIV

 Rule of Saint Benedict

 Abbey of Benedictbeurn

 St. Benedict Biscop

 Jean Benedicti

 St. Benedict Joseph Labre

 Benedictine Order

 Benedictional

 Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

 Benedict Levita

 St. Benedict of Aniane

 St. Benedict of Nursia

 Benedict of Peterborough

 St. Benedict of San Philadelphio

 Benedictus (Canticle of Zachary)

 Benedictus Polonus

 Benefice

 Benefit of Clergy

 Jeremiah Benettis

 Archdiocese of Benevento (Beneventana)

 Jöns Oxenstjerna Bengtsson

 Anatole de Bengy

 St. Benignus

 St. Benignus of Dijon

 Benjamin

 Franz Georg Benkert

 St. Benno

 Benno II

 Michel Benoît

 Benthamism

 Family of Bentivoglio

 John Francis Bentley

 William Bentney

 Joseph Charles Benziger

 Girolamo Benzoni

 St. Berach

 St. Berard of Carbio

 Carlo Sebastiano Berardi

 Antoine Henri de Bérault-Bercastel

 St. Bercharius

 Pierre Bercheure

 Bl. Berchtold

 Berengarius of Tours

 Pierre Bérenger

 Berenice

 Diocese of Bergamo

 Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier

 Charles Berington

 Joseph Berington

 Humphrey Berisford

 Berissa

 José Mariano Beristain y Martin de Souza

 Anton Berlage

 Pierre Berland

 Fray Tomás de Berlanga

 Berlin

 Hector Berlioz

 Agostino Bernal

 St. Bernard

 Alexis-Xyste Bernard

 Claude Bernard (1)

 Claude Bernard (2)

 Bernard Guidonis

 Bernard of Besse

 Bernard of Bologna

 Bernard of Botone

 St. Bernard of Clairvaux

 Bernard of Cluny

 Bernard of Compostella

 Bernard of Luxemburg

 St. Bernard of Menthon

 Bernard of Pavia

 St. Bernard Tolomeo

 Bl. Bernardine of Feltre

 Bl. Bernardine of Fossa

 St. Bernardine of Siena

 Bernardines

 Berne

 Francesco Berni

 Etienne-Alexandre Bernier

 Domenico Bernini

 Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

 Giuseppe Maria Bernini

 François-Joachim-Pierre de Bernis

 Berno (Abbot of Reichenau)

 Berno

 Bernold of Constance

 St. Bernward

 Beroea

 Berosus

 Beroth

 Pietro Berrettini

 Alonso Berruguete

 Isaac-Joseph Berruyer

 Pierre-Antoine Berryer

 Bersabee

 Bertha

 Guillaume-François Berthier

 Berthold

 Berthold of Chiemsee

 Berthold of Henneberg

 Berthold of Ratisbon

 Berthold of Reichenau

 Giovanni Lorenzo Berti

 St. Bertin

 Diocese of Bertinoro

 Ludovico Bertonio

 Pierre Bertrand

 St. Bertulf

 Pierre de Bérulle

 Martin de Bervanger

 Archdiocese of Besançon (Vesontio)

 Jerome Lamy Besange

 Theodore Beschefer

 Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi

 Beseleel

 Jérôme Besoigne

 Christopher Besoldus

 Johannes Bessarion

 Johann Franz Bessel

 Henry Digby Beste

 Bestiaries

 Fray Domingo Betanzos

 Fray Pedro de Betanzos

 Juan de Betanzos

 Bethany

 Bethany Beyond the Jordan

 Betharan

 Bethdagon

 Bethel

 Bethlehem (1)

 Bethlehem (2)

 Bethlehem (as used in architecture)

 Bethlehemites

 Bethsaida

 Bethsan

 Bethulia

 Betrothal

 Prefecture Apostolic of Bettiah

 Betting

 Count Auguste-Arthur Beugnot

 St. Beuno

 Beverley Minster

 Lawrence Beyerlinck

 Giovanni Antonio Bianchi

 Francesco Bianchini

 Giuseppe Bianchini

 Charles Bianconi

 Pierre Biard

 Bibbiena

 St. Bibiana

 The Bible

 Bible Societies

 Picture Bibles

 Biblia Pauperum

 Biblical Antiquities

 Biblical Commission

 Ven. Robert Bickerdike

 Alexander Bicknor

 James Bidermann

 Gabriel Biel

 Diocese of Biella

 Marcin Bielski

 Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville

 Bigamy (in Canon Law)

 Bigamy (in Civil Jurisprudence)

 Marguerin de la Bigne

 Eberhard Billick

 Charles-René Billuart

 Jacques de Billy

 Bilocation

 Bination

 Joseph Biner

 Etienne Binet

 Jacques-Philippe-Marie Binet

 Severin Binius

 Anton Joseph Binterim

 Biogenesis and Abiogenesis

 Biology

 Flavio Biondo

 Jean-Baptiste Biot

 Birds (In Symbolism)

 Biretta

 St. Birinus (Berin)

 Fabian Birkowski

 Diocese of Birmingham

 Heinrich Birnbaum

 Defect of Birth

 Birtha

 Diocese of Bisarchio

 Bishop

 William Bishop

 Bisomus

 Robert Blackburne

 Black Fast

 Blackfoot Indians

 Adam Blackwood

 St. Blaise

 Anthony Blanc

 Jean-Baptiste Blanchard

 François Norbert Blanchet

 St. Blandina

 St. Blane

 Blasphemy

 Matthew Blastares

 St. Blathmac

 Nicephorus Blemmida

 Blenkinsop

 The Blessed

 Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

 Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament

 Blessing

 Apostolic Blessing

 Diocese of Blois

 Peter Blomevenna

 Blood Indians

 François-Louis Blosius

 Heinrich Blyssen

 Francis Blyth

 Nicolas Bobadilla

 Abbey and Diocese of Bobbio

 Boccaccino

 Giovanni Boccaccio

 Placidus Böcken

 Edward Bocking

 Ven. John Bodey

 Jean Bodin

 Bodone

 Hector Boece

 Petrus Boeri

 Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius

 Bogomili

 Archdiocese of Santa Fé de Bogotá

 Bohemia

 Bohemian Brethren

 Bohemians of the United States

 Diocese of Boiano

 Matteo Maria Boiardo

 Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

 Diocese of Boise

 Jean de Dieu-Raymond de Cucé de Boisgelin

 St. Boisil

 Diocese of Bois-le-Duc

 Osbern Bokenham

 Conrad von Bolanden

 Giovanni Vincenzo Bolgeni

 Bolivia

 Bollandists

 Johann Bollig

 Archdiocese of Bologna

 Giovanni da Bologna

 University of Bologna

 Jérôme-Hermès Bolsec

 Edmund Bolton

 Bernhard Bolzano

 Archdiocese of Bombay

 Cornelius Richard Anton van Bommel

 Giovanni Bona

 Bonagratia of Bergamo

 François de Bonal

 Raymond Bonal

 Louis-Gabriel-Ambroise, Vicomte de Bonald

 Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald

 Bona Mors Confraternity

 Charles-Lucien-Jules-Laurent Bonaparte

 St. Bonaventure

 Balthasar Boncompagni

 Juan Pablo Bonet

 Nicholas Bonet

 Jacques Bonfrère

 St. Boniface

 Pope St. Boniface I

 Pope Boniface II

 Pope Boniface III

 Pope St. Boniface IV

 Pope Boniface V

 Pope Boniface VI

 Boniface VII (Antipope)

 Pope Boniface VIII

 Pope Boniface IX

 Boniface Association

 Boniface of Savoy

 Boni Homines

 Bonizo of Sutri

 University of Bonn

 Ven. Jean Louis Bonnard

 Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose

 Abbey of Bonne-Espérance

 Edmund Bonner

 Augustin Bonnetty

 Bonosus

 Institute of Bon Secours (de Paris)

 Alessandro Bonvicino

 Book of Common Prayer

 Foxe's Book of Martyrs

 Archdiocese of Bordeaux (Burdigala)

 University of Bordeaux

 Cavaliere Paris Bordone

 Caspar Henry Borgess

 Stefano Borgia

 Ambrogio Borgognone

 Diocese of Borgo San-Donnino

 Diocese of Borgo San-Sepolcro

 Pierre-Rose-Ursule-Dumoulin Borie

 Prefectures Apostolic of Borneo

 Francisco Nicolás Borras

 Andrea Borromeo

 Federico Borromeo

 Society of St. Charles Borromeo

 Francesco Borromini

 Christopher Borrus

 Diocese of Bosa

 Peter van der Bosch

 Ven. Giovanni Melchior Bosco

 Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich

 Antonio Bosio

 Bosnia and Herzegovina

 Boso

 Boso (Breakspear)

 Jacques Le Bossu

 Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

 Ven. John Boste

 Archdiocese of Boston

 Bostra

 Bothrys

 Sandro Botticelli

 St. Botulph

 Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci

 Pierre Boucher

 Louis-Victor-Emile Bougaud

 Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant

 Dominique Bouhours

 Jacques Bouillart

 Emmanuel Théodore de la Tour d'Auvergne, Cardinal de Bouillon

 Marie Dominique Bouix

 Henri, Count of Boulainvilliers

 André de Boulanger

 César-Egasse du Boulay

 Etienne-Antoine Boulogne

 Martin Bouquet

 Thomas Bouquillon

 Jean-Jacques Bourassé

 Thomas Bourchier

 Louis Bourdaloue

 Hélie de Bourdeilles

 Jean Bourdon

 François Bourgade

 Archdiocese of Bourges (Bituricæ)

 Ignace Bourget

 François Bourgoing

 Gilbert Bourne

 Charles de Bouvens

 Joachim Bouvet

 Jean-Baptiste Bouvier

 Diocese of Bova

 Diocese of Bovino

 Sir George Bowyer

 Boy-Bishop

 John Boyce

 Boyle Abbey

 Thomas Bracken

 Henry de Bracton

 Denis Mary Bradley

 Edward Bradshaigh

 Henry Bradshaw

 William Maziere Brady

 Archdiocese of Braga

 Diocese of Bragança-Miranda

 Brahminism

 Louis Braille

 Nicolas de Bralion

 Donato Bramante

 Brancaccio

 Francesco Brancati

 Francesco Lorenzo Brancati di Lauria

 Branch Sunday

 Brandenburg

 Edouard Branly

 Sebastian Brant

 Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantôme

 Memorial Brasses

 Charles Etienne, Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg

 Johann Alexander Brassicanus

 St. Braulio

 Placidus Braun

 Francisco Bravo

 Brazil

 Liturgical Use of Bread

 Striking of the Breast

 Jean de Brébeuf

 Diocese of Breda

 Jean Bréhal

 Brehon Laws

 Bremen

 St. Brenach

 Michael John Brenan

 St. Brendan

 Klemens Maria Brentano

 Diocese of Brescia

 Prince-Bishopric of Breslau

 Francesco Giuseppe Bressani

 Brethren of the Lord

 Raymond Breton

 Breviary

 Aberdeen Breviary

 Heinrich Brewer

 Joseph Olivier Briand

 Bribery

 Briçonnet

 Jacques Bridaine

 The Bridge-Building Brotherhood

 St. Bridget of Sweden

 Thomas Edward Bridgett

 John Bridgewater

 Bridgewater Treatises

 St. Brieuc

 St. Brigid of Ireland

 Brigittines

 John Brignon

 Paulus Bril

 Peter Michael Brillmacher

 Ven. Edmund Brindholm

 Diocese of Brindisi

 Stephen Brinkley

 Jacques-Charles de Brisacier

 Jean de Brisacier

 Archdiocese of Brisbane

 Johann Nepomucene Brischar

 Ancient Diocese of Bristol

 Richard Bristow

 British Columbia

 Francis Britius

 Thomas Lewis Brittain

 Ven. John Britton

 Diocese of Brixen

 St. Brogan

 Auguste-Théodore-Paul de Broglie

 Jacques-Victor-Albert, Duc de Broglie

 Maurice-Jean de Broglie

 Jean-Allarmet de Brogny

 John Bromyard

 John Baptist Brondel

 Anthony Brookby

 James Brookes

 Diocese of Brooklyn

 Jean-Baptiste de la Brosse

 Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God

 Richard Broughton

 Christoph Brouwer

 William Brown

 Charles Farrar Browne

 Volume 4

 Volume 3/Contributors

 Orestes Augustus Brownson

 Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville

 Heinrich Brück

 Joachim Bruel

 David-Augustin de Brueys

 Louis-Frédéric Brugère

 Bruges

 Pierre Brugière

 John Brugman

 Constantino Brumidi

 Pierre Brumoy

 Filippo Brunellesco

 Ferdinand Brunetière

 Ugolino Brunforte

 Leonardo Bruni

 Diocese of Brünn

 Francis de Sales Brunner

 Sebastian Brunner

 St. Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne

 St. Bruno (1)

 St. Bruno (2)

 Giordano Bruno

 St. Bruno of Querfurt

 Bruno the Saxon

 Brunswick (Braunschweig)

 Anton Brus

 Brusa

 Brussels

 Simon William Gabriel Bruté de Rémur

 Jacques Bruyas

 John Delavau Bryant

 Bubastis

 Gabriel Bucelin

 Martin Bucer

 Victor de Buck

 Buckfast Abbey

 Sir Patrick Alphonsus Buckley

 Buddhism

 Guillaume Budé

 Diocese of Budweis

 Buenos Aires

 Diocese of Buffalo

 Claude Buffier

 Louis Buglio

 Bernardo Buil

 Ecclesiastical Buildings

 Archdiocese of Bukarest

 Bulgaria

 Bulla Aurea

 Ven. Thomas Bullaker

 Bullarium

 Spanish Bull-Fight

 Angélique Bullion

 Bulls and Briefs

 Sir Richard Bulstrode

 Joannes Bunderius

 Michelangelo Buonarroti

 Burchard of Basle

 Burchard of Worms

 St. Burchard of Würzburg

 Hans Burckmair

 Edward Ambrose Burgis

 Francisco Burgoa

 Archdiocese of Burgos

 Burgundy

 Christian Burial

 Jean Buridan

 Jean Lévesque de Burigny

 Franz Burkard

 Edmund Burke

 Thomas Burke

 Thomas Nicholas Burke

 Walter Burleigh

 Diocese of Burlington

 Burma

 Peter Hardeman Burnett

 James Burns

 Burse

 Abbey of Bursfeld

 Abbey of Bury St. Edmund's

 Ven. César de Bus

 Pierre Busée

 Hermann Busembaum

 Busiris

 Buskins

 Franz Joseph, Ritter von Buss

 Carlos María Bustamante

 Thomas Stephen Buston

 John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, Third Marquess of Bute

 Jacques Buteux

 Alban Butler

 Charles Butler

 Mary Joseph Butler

 Buttress

 Ven. Christopher Buxton

 Byblos

 Bye-Altar

 Byllis

 William Byrd

 Andrew Byrne

 Richard Byrne

 William Byrne

 Byzantine Architecture

 Byzantine Art

 Byzantine Empire

 Byzantine Literature

Hermann Busembaum


Moral theologian, born at Notteln, Westphalia, 1600; died at Münster, 31 January, 1668. He entered the Society of Jesus in his nineteenth year. After completing his studies, he taught the classics, philosophy, and moral and dogmatic theology, in various houses of the order. He was rector of the colleges of Hildesheim and Münster, socius to the provincial, and again rector at Münster when he died. His prudence, keenness of intellect, firmness of will, large-heartedness and tack combined to form a rare character. These natural gifts were heightened by a singular innocence of life and constant communion with God. Hence we are not surprised to learn that he was eminently successful as a director of souls. He was chosen by Christoph Bernard von Galen, the Prince-Bishop of Münster, as his confessor, and became his most trusted advisor; and much of the growth and enduring spiritual activity of that diocese is due to these two men. Towards the end of his life Busembaum was attacked by a lingering and extremely painful sickness. He died peacefully and with sentiments of great piety. He was a holy man; but it was as a great theologian that he is especially remembered. In 1645 as Southwell says, or according to De Backer in 1650, appeared his principal work: Medulla theologiæ moralis facili ac perspicua methodo resolvens causa conscientiæ ex variis probatisque auctoribus concinnata. This work is a classic; its conciseness, clearness, method, depth, vastness of theological lore comprised into so small a volume, sanity of judgment, and practical utility proclaimed its author to be a man gifted in a superlative degree with the moral instinct and the powers of a great teacher. Busembaum's name became in a short while one of the important ones in moral theology. In his preface to the first edition, he acknowledges his indebtedness to two Jesuits, Hermann Nünning and Friedrich Spe, whose manuscripts he had before him while composing his own work, and he claims for them a share in whatever good his "Medulla" was to effect. The author lived to see the fortieth edition of his little book. Up to the year 1845 over two hundred editions had appeared, which gives us an average of more than one edition for every year of its existence. The book was printed in all the great centres of the Catholic world, Münster, Cologne, Frankfort, Ingolstadt, Lisbon, Lyon, Venice, Padua, and Rome; it was used as a textbook in numberless seminaries for over two centuries. This success was certainly phenomenal. Nor was Busembaum less fortunate in his commentators. Three of the greatest moralists of their respective periods, La Croix, St. Alphonsus Ligouri, and, in our own days, Ballerini, took the "Medulla" as their text and commented on it in their masterly volumes. St. Alphonsus wished to put into the hands of the students of his congregation the book that would help them most to master in a limited time and with order the difficult science of moral theology. During several years, he had read very many authors, but his choice finally fell on Busembaum.

The foregoing statements give full assurance of Busembaum's orthodoxy and authority. For it is incredible that the Church would have tolerated in the schools in which her future priests were being trained for the sacred ministry a book that taught a morality which was not her own. The attacks made on Busembaum have been singularly futile. He was accused of teaching doctrine that was subversive of authority and of the security of kings. This charge was founded on the following proposition:


Busembaum lays down this principle: according to natural law it is permitted to repel by force an unjust aggressor, and if it be necessary for the saving of one's life, to kill him. In such cases, however, the person attacked should have the intention of defending himself and should not inflict greater harm or use more force than is necessary for self-defense. Then according to his method, Busembaum applies the principle to various cases; and among them is the one to which the adversaries object. So that the proposition that caused the trouble is merely an application of a principle of the natural law to an individual case. This proposition is taken almost verbatim from St. Antoninus. It is essentially the same as the doctrine of St. Thomas, who says:

St. Alphonsus refers to this proposition of Busembaum in a letter to his editor, Redmondini, 10 March, 1758, and remarks "the proposition is not at all condemnable." The truth of the matter is that our author is here following in the footsteps of very eminent theologians, and the doctrine is not singular. Another objection is that Busembaum defends the principle, the end sanctions the means; the sense of the objection being that when the end is lawful, means in themselves unlawful are justified; that is, if the end is good, one may do something that is against the natural law to attain that end. Now the truth is that Busembaum teaches the opposite: Præceptum naturale negativum, prohibens rem intrinsece malum no licet violare ne quid ob metum mortis. (A negative precept of natural law which prohibits a thing intrinsically evil can never be lawfully transgressed not even under the influence of the fear of death, Lib. I, tr. ii, c. iv, dub. 2, n. 1) So that it is not lawful to do a thinG which is wrong in itself, even to escape death. The incriminated passage occurs under the question which Busembaum puts: Quid liceat reo circa fugam poenæ (Lib. IV, c. iii, d. 7, a. 2). He answers:

Here therefore we have the explicit exclusion of unlawful means, and the sense of the phrase is only this: when the end is lawful, then is the use of means in themselves indifferent, i. e., not unlawful, permitted. We must here remark that there is in the "Medulla" a very small number of solutions taken from and defended by other authors, which were afterward rejected by Alexander VII and Innocent XI. But these solutions are not peculiar to Busembaum. nor should we be surprised that an author who solves almost numberless practical cases should err at times in his application of laws and principles to particular, intricate instances. The real wonder is that the mistaken applications of Busembaum's great work are so very few.

HURTER, Nomenclatur, II, 259; THOELEN, Menologium, (Roermond, 1901), 73; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibl. de la c. de J. (Paris, 1891), II, 445; FRITZ in Kirchenlex. s. v. Busembaum; DUHR, Jesuitenfabeln (Freiburg im Br., 1899), 432, 524; REICHMANN, Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel (Freiburg im Br., 1903), 13, 22, 121; Letters of St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri(New York, 1896), Pt. II, Special Correspondence, I, let. xxxvi.

Timothy B. Barrett.