GURY, JEAN-PIERRE. — Jesuit, moral theologian and casuist, born at Mailleroncourt (Haute-Saône) on 23 January 1801, died at Mercoeur (Haute-Loire) on 18 April 1886, while preaching a mission. He taught moral theology at the scholasticate of Vals (Le Puy) from 1834 to 1847; in the same year he was called to Rome for the same position at the Gregorian University; but already the following year, because of the revolutionary disturbances, he returned to Vals, where he continued his teaching until his death.
The fruit of his studies consists of two works that have remained highly celebrated: Compendium theologiae moralis (2 vols., Lyon–Paris 1850) and Cusus consuntiae (2 vols., Le Puy 1862). The Compendium, which follows in the footsteps of H. Busenbaum and St. Alfonso de' Liguori and draws upon the works of Cardinal Th. de Gousset, is distinguished by particular qualities: brevity, practicality, clarity, order, and the logical connection of the questions; a concise and exact notion of the subject, an exposition of the general principles and their application, and particular, practical questions for immediate use. For this reason it was received with great favor in Europe and beyond, to such an extent that the author himself published 17 editions of II. There were criticisms, some well founded and others often unfounded. He answered the former through the revisions introduced in subsequent editions, which multiplied outside France as well; indeed, he had a more extensive work ready, but its printing would have required energies beyond his strength. The work was instead completed by his colleagues, almost all of them Jesuits: for Italy, A. Cercià (Naples 1854), A. Ballerini (Turin 1866), G. Melandri (Rome 1872), D. Palmieri (Prato 1894), R. Tummolo (Naples 1919), T. A. Jorio (there 1934); for France, A. Dumas (Lyon 1874), A. Bulot (Paris 1905); for Germany, A. Seitz (Regensburg 1853); for Spain, V. Casajoana (Barcelona 1882), J. B. Ferreres (1902); for the United States, L. Sabetti (New York 1887); many of these editions and adaptations went through numerous editions down to the present day. He answered the latter by defending the sources from which he had drawn.
Other storms afflicted G., breaking out in the French Parliament and in Germany, where he was cited as the customary, though more recent, example of the perfidious morality of the Jesuits; but those false and unfounded assertions were easily refuted.