while Spain gave itself up to more subtle questions. Now, however, Italy gradually came to the front. A host of learned theologians gathered around the Holy See to fight against Jansenism and Regalism, which had spread over France and were finding their way gradually into Germany. Most of the older schools still remained, but they had lost their former solidity. Another school was now added—the so-called Augustinian school, which flourished among the Augustinians and also at Louvain. It took a middle course between the older schools and the Jansenists in reference to St. Augustine’s teaching.
Among the Thomists we may mention Billuart (d. 1757), Card. Gotti (d. about 1730), Drouin (De re Sacramentaria) and De Rossi (De Rubeis). The two Benedictine Cardinals, Sfondrati and Aguirre (Theologia S. Anselmi), belong to the less rigorous school of Thomists, and, indeed, have a marked leaning to the Jesuit school.
The Franciscan school produced the most important work of the period, and perhaps the most useful of all the Scotist writings: Scotus Academicus seu Universa Doctoris Sublilis Theologica Dogmata hodiernis academicorum moribus accomodata, by Claude Frassen (4 vols. folio, or 12 vols. quarto). Boyvin, Krisper, and Kick also wrote at this time. The well-known works of the Capuchin Thomas ex Charmes are still widely used.
It was from the Jesuit school, however, that most of the manuals and compendiums proceeded. Noel composed a compendium of Suarez; and James Platel an exceedingly compact and concise Synopsis Cursus Theolog. Antoine’s Theologia Speculativa is to be commended more for its clearness than for its rigid opinions on morals. Germany produced many useful manuals, e.g., for controversy, the short work by Pichler, and a larger one by Sardagna. But the most important, beyond question, is the celebrated Theologia Wirceburgensis, composed by the Wurzburg Jesuits, Kilber and his colleagues, about the middle of the eighteenth century. It includes both the positive and speculative elements, and is a worthy termination of the ancient Theology in Germany.
The Augustinian school approached closely to Jansenism
