We are pleased to announce the publication of the new Open Access digital facsimile edition of The Summa Lusitana of Lopo de Abreu, S.J. (1547-1606) and Vicente Álvares, S.J. (1581-1634): Casuistry, Moral Theology, and Canon Law in Portuguese Asia (c. 1630s), edited by Rômulo Ehalt (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory). This foundational primary source is published by Open Press Tilburg University.
Originating in the 1630s as a Latin translation of Lopo de Abreu’s lost Portuguese manuscript, Suma de Moral (1603), the Summa Lusitana is one of the most significant theological and legal manuals to emerge from the seventeenth-century Portuguese empire. Preserved as a unique extant copy in the Tilburg University Library, the text offers an invaluable window into how Jesuit missionaries applied moral theology, canon law, and casuistry within the Portuguese Padroado in Asia.
The text addresses the practical complexities of early modern global trade networks (including contract law, restitution, and usury) as well as colonial administration, defining the moral and civic duties of judges, customs house collectors, merchants, laborers, and military and maritime captains.
[And from the press’s website:]
Originating in the 1630s as a Latin translation of Lopo de Abreu’s lost Portuguese manuscript, Suma de Moral (1603), the Summa Lusitana is one of the most significant theological and legal manuals to emerge from the seventeenth-century Portuguese empire. Having survived centuries of transcontinental transit, institutional disruption, and successive imperial and European conflicts, the unique extant copy preserved in the Tilburg University Library offers an invaluable window into how Jesuit missionaries applied moral theology, canon law, and casuistry to the complex cultural realities of the Portuguese Padroado. The work demonstrates a highly specialized, original tradition of casuistic reasoning tailored specifically to Iberian Asia. Moving beyond abstract speculation, the text examines the complexities of global trade networks—including contract law, restitution, and usury—alongside colonial governance, outlining the moral and civic duties of judges, customshouse tax collectors, merchants, mechanical laborers, and the captains of fortresses and voyages. Jointly published by the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (Frankfurt) and Tilburg University, this foundational source is now available as an Open Access e-book. Future digital iterations will incorporate transcriptions, full English translations, and collaborative critical studies to advance the study of colonial intellectual history.