Laymann, Paul

LAYMANN, PAUL. - Jesuit, moralist, b. at Arzl near Innsbruck in 1574, d. at Constance on 13 Nov. 1635. He taught philosophy at Ingolstadt (1603-1609); moral theology at Munich (1609-25), canon law at Dillingen (1625-32), and was always consulted from every side for the most difficult and complex cases, his answers being considered decisive. He was confessor to Ferdinand II.

Of his 34 works, the most important is the Theologia moralis in quinque partes partita (5 vols., Munich 1625; with numerous editions down to the middle of the 18th century; the best are those that reproduce the 3rd [Munich 1630], revised by the author), carried out with a new method in the manner of setting out the questions, classifying them and discussing them with a lucid and closely reasoned style, without sparing erudition. There followed: Pacis compositio inter Principes et Ordines Imperii Romani (Dillingen 1629), where, against the accusations of harshness and duplicity leveled by the Protestants, he proves how the Peace of Augsburg, signed by Ferdinand I in 1555, is valid always and in every case; Iusta defensio, in causa monasteriorum extinctorum (ibid. 1631), where he deals with the Edict of Restitution issued by Ferdinand II in 1629 and maintains that the goods of the suppressed monasteries must not be restored to the Order to which the monasteries belonged, because each monastery formed a separate corporation. Posthumously appeared the Jus Canonicum (3 vols., ibid. 1666-98), but incomplete. To L. was also attributed the rigorous Processus juridicus contra sagas et veneficos (Cologne 1629), reproaching the author with defending the cruelties used up to that time in the trials of witches. But it is certain that the work is not his (cf. B. Duhr, P. L. und Processus juridicus contra sagas, in Zeitschr. für kath. Theol., 23 [1899], p. 773 ff.; 24 [1900], p. 585 ff.; 25 [1901], p. 166 ff.) and it is, moreover, in clear contrast with what he himself says, especially in the 3rd ed. of the Theologia moralis, where he condemns the rigor of the judges and recommends gentleness and understanding toward the accused, so much so that to the influence of his opinion it is partly due that those trials finally ceased.

Celestino Testore