ESCOBAR Y MENDOZA, ANTONIO Spanish churchman, was born at Valladolid, and at the age of fifteen became a Jesuit. He soon became a famous preacher, and his facility was so great that for fifty years he preached daily. His best known works arc Summula casuum conscientiae (162 7) ; Liber theologiae moralis (1644), and Universae theo logiae moralis problemata (1652-66). The first contains the famous maxim that purity of intention may be a justification of actions which are contrary to the moral code and to human laws. Its doctrines were criticized in the fifth and sixth of Pas cal's Provincial Letters and were ridiculed in witty verses by Moliere, Boileau and La Fontaine. Escobar also wrote Biblical commentaries and Latin verses in praise of Ignatius Loyola (1613 ) and of the Virgin (1618). He died at Valladolid on July 4, 1669.