SLATER, THOMAS. - Moral theologian, b. at Dinckley (Lancashire) on 16 Sept. 1855, d. at Liverpool on 3 Dec. 1928. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1874, he was professor of moral theology at St. Bruno's College in Wales (1892-1911); then, owing to an eye illness, he transferred to the parish of St. Francis Xavier in Liverpool, where he was a much sought-after confessor and adviser.
He wrote several highly esteemed works on moral theology: Divittitia et iure (London 1898); A Manual of moral (2 vols., New York 1908; 5th ed. there 1925); Cases of conscience for English speaking country (2 vols., there 1911-12); Questions of moral Theology (there 1915); Foundation of true morality (there 1920). The importance of these works lies in their application of doctrine to complicated cases of modern life, in which the problems discussed and resolved (abortion, gambling, life insurance, literary property, devaluation, railway fares, etc.) are drawn from the Anglo-Saxon and American world, where the mixture of populations has created casuistic combinations never encountered in countries with a homogeneous cultural structure.