SPORER, PATRITIUS

Franciscan moral theologian; b. Passau, c. 1620; d. Passau, May 29, 1683. Sporer entered the Strasbourg province of the Strict Observance in 1637 and after his ordination in 1644 immediately became teacher of philosophy and later of theology. He was also preacher and penitentiary of the cathedrals of Augsburg and Passau. He is remembered chiefly for his textbooks of moral theology, which were in use inside and outside of the order for more than 100 years. His more important works are Tyrocinium theologiae moralis conscientiam, actum humanum et peccatum in genere moraliter explicans et applicans (Würzburg 1660–61), Seraphim moralis: Amor Dei super omnia theologico-practice explicatus (ibid. 1662), and Tyrocinium sacramentale practicum ad instructionem ordinandorum et curandorum (Salzburg 1681–82). After Sporer's death these works were revised and, partly with the aid of his manuscripts, completed and repeatedly edited under the new title Theologia moralis super decalogum et sacramenta. In 1724 Kilian Katzenberger added two Supplementa. The last revised edition is the work of Irenaeus Bierbaum (Paderborn 1901–05). Sporer admitted that he had learned more by practice than by formal schooling; and his writings are practical rather than theoretical. He was a probabilist and lenient in his judgments. St. Alphonsus of Liguori considered him an authority.

Bibliography: h. hurter, Nomenclator literarius theologiae catholicae (Innsbruck 1926) 4:944. a. goetzelmann, "Das Studium marianum theologicum im Franziskanerkloster zu Dettelbach," Franzisfanische Studien 6 (1919) 345–365. j. h. sbaralea, Supplementum et castigatio ad scriptores trium ordinum S. Francisci a Waddingo (Rome 1906–36) 4:284. Syllabus Scriptorum Provinciae Argentinae, ed. b. lins (Analecta Franciscana 8; 1946) 563–565. a. teetaert, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., (Paris 1903–50) 14.2:2551–53.

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