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Title: |
Aeterni Patris
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Descr.: |
On The Restoration Of Christian Philosophy
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Pope: |
Pope Leo XIII
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Date: |
August 4, 1879
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To
the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic
World in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
1.
The only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, who came on earth to
bring salvation and the light of divine wisdom to men, conferred a
great and wonderful blessing on the world when, about to ascend
again into heaven, He commanded the Apostles to go and teach all
nations,(1) and left the Church which He had founded to be the
common and supreme teacher of the peoples. For men whom the truth
had set free were to be preserved by the truth; nor would the
fruits of heavenly doctrines by which salvation comes to men have
long remained had not the Lord Christ appointed an unfailing
teaching authority to train the minds to faith. And the Church
built upon the promises of its own divine Author, whose charity it
imitated, so faithfully followed out His commands that its
constant aim and chief wish was this: to teach religion and
contend forever against errors. To this end assuredly have tended
the incessant labors of individual bishops; to this end also the
published laws and decrees of councils, and especially the
constant watchfulness of the Roman Pontiffs, to whom, as
successors of the blessed Peter in the primacy of the Apostles,
belongs the right and office of teaching and confirming their
brethren in the faith. Since, then, according to the warning of
the apostle, the minds of Christ's faithful are apt to be deceived
and the integrity of the faith to be corrupted among men by
philosophy and vain deceit,(2) the supreme pastors of the Church
have always thought it their duty to advance, by every means in
their power, science truly so called, and at the same time to
provide with special care that all studies should accord with the
Catholic faith, especially philosophy, on which a right
interpretation of the other sciences in great part depends.
Indeed, venerable brethren, on this very subject among others, We
briefly admonished you in Our first encyclical letter; but now,
both by reason of the gravity of the subject and the condition of
the time, we are again compelled to speak to you on the mode of
taking up the study of philosophy which shall respond most fitly
to the excellence of faith, and at the same time be consonant with
the dignity of human science.
2.
Whoso turns his attention to the bitter strifes of these days and
seeks a reason for the troubles that vex public and private life
must come to the conclusion that a fruitful cause of the evils
which now afflict, as well as those which threaten, us lies in
this: that false conclusions concerning divine and human things,
which originated in the schools of philosophy, have now crept into
all the orders of the State, and have been accepted by the common
consent of the masses. For, since it is in the very nature of man
to follow the guide of reason in his actions, if his intellect
sins at all his will soon follows; and thus it happens that false
opinions, whose seat is in the understanding, influence human
actions and pervert them. Whereas, on the other hand, if men be of
sound mind and take their stand on true and solid principles,
there will result a vast amount of benefits for the public and
private good. We do not, indeed, attribute such force and
authority to philosophy as to esteem it equal to the task of
combating and rooting out all errors; for, when the Christian
religion was first constituted, it came upon earth to restore it
to its primeval dignity by the admirable light of faith, diffused
"not by persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the
manifestation of spirit and of power",(3) so also at the
present time we look above all things to the powerful help of
Almighty God to bring back to a right understanding the minds of
man and dispel the darkness of error.(4) But the natural helps
with which the grace of the divine wisdom, strongly and sweetly
disposing all things, has supplied the human race are neither to
be despised nor neglected, chief among which is evidently the
right use of philosophy. For, not in vain did God set the light of
reason in the human mind; and so far is the super-added light of
faith from extinguishing or lessening the power of the
intelligence that it completes it rather, and by adding to its
strength renders it capable of greater things.
3.
Therefore, Divine Providence itself requires that, in calling back
the people to the paths of faith and salvation, advantage should
be taken of human science also - an approved and wise practice
which history testifies was observed by the most illustrious
Fathers of the Church. They, indeed, were wont neither to belittle
nor undervalue the part that reason had to play, as is summed up
by the great Augustine when he attributes to this science
"that by which the most wholesome faith is begotten...is
nourished, defended, and made strong."(5)
4.
In the first place, philosophy, if rightly made use of by the
wise, in a certain way tends to smooth and fortify the road to
true faith, and to prepare the souls of its disciples for the fit
reception of revelation; for which reason it is well called by
ancient writers sometimes a stepping stone to the Christian
faith,(6) sometimes the prelude and help of Christianity,(7)
sometimes the Gospel teacher.(8) And, assuredly, the God of all
goodness, in all that pertains to divine things, has not only
manifested by the light of faith those truths which human
intelligence could not attain of itself, but others, also, not
altogether unattainable by reason, that by the help of divine
authority they may be made known to all at once and without any
admixture of error. Hence it is that certain truths which were
either divinely proposed for belief, or were bound by the closest
chains to the doctrine of faith, were discovered by pagan sages
with nothing but their natural reason to guide them, were
demonstrated and proved by becoming arguments. For, as the Apostle
says, the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world,
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made:
His eternal power also and divinity;(9) and the Gentiles who have
not the Law show, nevertheless, the work of the Law written in
their hearts.(10) But it is most fitting to turn these truths,
which have been discovered by the pagan sages even, to the use and
purposes of revealed doctrine, in order to show that both human
wisdom and the very testimony of our adversaries serve to support
the Christian faith - a method which is not of recent
introduction, but of established use, and has often been adopted
by the holy Fathers of the Church. What is more, those venerable
men, the witnesses and guardians of religious traditions,
recognize a certain form and figure of this in the action of the
Hebrews, who, when about to depart out of Egypt, were commanded to
take with them the gold and silver vessels and precious robes of
the Egyptians, that by a change of use the things might be
dedicated to the service of the true God which had formerly been
the instruments of ignoble and superstitious rites. Gregory of
NeoCaesare(11) praises Origen expressly because, with singular
dexterity, as one snatches weapons from the enemy, he turned to
the defense of Christian wisdom and to the destruction of
superstition many arguments drawn from the writings of the pagans.
And both Gregory of Nazianzen(12) and Gregory of Nyssa(13) praise
and commend a like mode of disputation in Basil the Great; while
Jerome(14) especially commends it in Quadratus, a disciple of the
Apostles, in Aristides, Justin, Irenaeus, and very many others.
Augustine says: "Do we not see Cyprian, that mildest of
doctors and most blessed of martyrs, going out of Egypt laden with
gold and silver and vestments? And Lactantius, also and Victorinus,
Optatus and Hilary? And, not to speak of the living, how many
Greeks have done likewise?"(15) But if natural reason first
sowed this rich field of doctrine before it was rendered fruitful
by the power of Christ, it must assuredly become more prolific
after the grace of the Savior has renewed and added to the native
faculties of the human mind. And who does not see that a plain and
easy road is opened up to faith by such a method of philosophic
study?
5.
But the advantage to be derived from such a school of philosophy
is not to be confined within these limits. The foolishness of
those men who "by these good things that are seen could not
understand Him, that is, neither by attending to the works could
have acknowledged who was the workman,"(16) is gravely
reproved in the words of Divine Wisdom. In the first place, then,
this great and noble fruit is gathered from human reason, that it
demonstrates that God is; for the greatness of the beauty and of
the creature the Creator of them may be seen so as to be known
thereby.(17) Again, it shows God to excel in the height of all
perfections, especially in infinite wisdom before which nothing
lies hidden, and in absolute justice which no depraved affection
could possibly shake; and that God, therefore, is not only true
but truth itself, which can neither deceive nor be deceived.
Whence it clearly follows that human reason finds the fullest
faith and authority united in the word of God. In like manner,
reason declares that the doctrine of the Gospel has even from its
very beginning been made manifest by certain wonderful signs, the
established proofs, as it were, of unshaken truth; and that all,
therefore, who set faith in the Gospel do not believe rashly as
though following cunningly devised fables,(18) but, by a most
reasonable consent, subject their intelligence and judgment to an
authority which is divine. And of no less importance is it that
reason most clearly sets forth that the Church instituted by
Christ (as laid down in the [First] Vatican Council), on account of its
wonderful spread, its marvelous sanctity, and its inexhaustible
fecundity in all places, as well as of its Catholic unity and
unshaken stability, is in itself a great and perpetual motive of
belief and an irrefragable testimony of its own divine
mission.(19)
6.
Its solid foundations having been thus laid, a perpetual and
varied service is further required of philosophy, in order that
sacred theology may receive and assume the nature, form, and
genius of a true science. For in this, the most noble of studies,
it is of the greatest necessity to bind together, as it were, in
one body the many and various parts of the heavenly doctrines,
that, each being allotted to its own proper place and derived from
its own proper principles, the whole may join together in a
complete union; in order, in fine, that all and each part may be
strengthened by its own and the others' invincible arguments. Nor
is that more accurate or fuller knowledge of the things that are
believed, and somewhat more lucid understanding, as far as it can
go, of the very mysteries of faith which Augustine and the other
fathers commended and strove to reach, and which the [First] Vatican
Council itself(20) declared to be most fruitful, to be passed over
in silence or belittled. Those will certainly more fully and more
easily attain that knowledge and understanding who to integrity of
life and love of faith join a mind rounded and finished by
philosophic studies, as the same Vatican Council teaches that the
knowledge of such sacred dogmas ought to be sought as well from
analogy of the things that are naturally known as from the
connection of those mysteries one with another and with the final
end of man.(21)
7.
Lastly, the duty of religiously defending the truths divinely
delivered, and of resisting those who dare oppose them, pertains
to philosophic pursuits. Wherefore, it is the glory of philosophy
to be esteemed as the bulwark of faith and the strong defense of
religion. As Clement of Alexandria testifies, the doctrine of the
Savior is indeed perfect in itself and wanteth naught, since it is
the power and wisdom of God. And the assistance of the Greek
philosophy maketh not the truth more powerful; but, inasmuch as it
weakens the contrary arguments of the sophists and repels the
veiled attacks against the truth, it has been fitly called the
hedge and fence of the vine.(22) For, as the enemies of the
Catholic name, when about to attack religion, are in the habit of
borrowing their weapons from the arguments of philosophers, so the
defenders of sacred science draw many arguments from the store of
philosophy which may serve to uphold revealed dogmas. Nor is the
triumph of the Christian faith a small one in using human reason
to repel powerfully and speedily the attacks of its adversaries by
the hostile arms which human reason itself supplied. This species
of religious strife St. Jerome, writing to Magnus, notices as
having been adopted by the Apostle of the Gentiles himself; Paul,
the leader of the Christian army and the invincible orator,
battling for the cause of Christ, skillfully turns even a chance
inscription into an argument for the faith; for he had learned
from the true David to wrest the sword from the hands of the enemy
and to cut off the head of the boastful Goliath with his own
weapon.(23) Moreover, the Church herself not only urges, but even
commands, Christian teachers to seek help from philosophy. For,
the fifth Lateran Council, after it had decided that "every
assertion contrary to the truth of revealed faith is altogether
false, for the reason that it contradicts, however slightly, the
truth,"(24) advises teachers of philosophy to pay close
attention to the exposition of fallacious arguments; since, as
Augustine testifies, "if reason is turned against the
authority of sacred Scripture, no matter how specious it may seem,
it errs in the likeness of truth; for true it cannot be."(25)
8.
But in order that philosophy may be bound equal to the gathering
of those precious fruits which we have indicated, it behooves it
above all things never to turn aside from that path which the
Fathers have entered upon from a venerable antiquity, and which
the [First] Vatican Council solemnly and authoritatively approved. As it
is evident that very many truths of the supernatural order which
are far beyond the reach of the keenest intellect must be
accepted, human reason, conscious of its own infirmity, dare not
affect to itself too great powers, nor deny those truths, nor
measure them by its own standard, nor interpret them at will; but
receive them, rather, with a full and humble faith, and esteem it
the highest honor to be allowed to wait upon heavenly doctrines
like a handmaid and attendant, and by God's goodness attain to
them in any way whatsoever. But in the case of such doctrines as
the human intelligence may perceive, it is equally just that
philosophy should make use of its own method, principles, and
arguments - not, indeed, in such fashion as to seem rashly to
withdraw from the divine authority. But, since it is established
that those things which become known by revelation have the force
of certain truth, and that those things which war against faith
war equally against right reason, the Catholic philosopher will
know that he violates at once faith and the laws of reason if he
accepts any conclusion which he understands to be opposed to
revealed doctrine.
9.
We know that there are some who, in their overestimate of the
human faculties, maintain that as soon as man's intellect becomes
subject to divine authority it falls from its native dignity, and
hampered by the yoke of this species of slavery, is much retarded
and hindered in its progress toward the supreme truth and
excellence. Such an idea is most false and deceptive, and its sole
tendency is to induce foolish and ungrateful men willfully to
repudiate the most sublime truths, and reject the divine gift of
faith, from which the fountains of all good things flow out upon
civil society. For the human mind, being confined within certain
limits, and those narrow enough, is exposed to many errors and is
ignorant of many things; whereas the Christian faith, reposing on
the authority of God, is the unfailing mistress of truth, whom
whoso followeth he will be neither enmeshed in the snares of error
nor tossed hither and thither on the waves of fluctuating opinion.
Those, therefore, who to the study of philosophy unite obedience
to the Christian faith, are philosophizing in the best possible
way; for the splendor of the divine truths, received into the
mind, helps the understanding, and not only detracts in nowise
from its dignity, but adds greatly to its nobility, keenness, and
stability. For surely that is a worthy and most useful exercise of
reason when men give their minds to disproving those things which
are repugnant to faith and proving the things which conform to
faith. In the first case they cut the ground from under the feet
of error and expose the viciousness of the arguments on which
error rests; while in the second case they make themselves masters
of weighty reasons for the sound demonstration of truth and the
satisfactory instruction of any reasonable person. Whoever denies
that such study and practice tend to add to the resources and
expand the faculties of the mind must necessarily and absurdly
hold that the mind gains nothing from discriminating between the
true and the false. Justly, therefore, does the [First] Vatican Council
commemorate in these words the great benefits which faith has
conferred upon reason: Faith frees and saves reason from error,
and endows it with manifold knowledge.(26) A wise man, therefore,
would not accuse faith and look upon it as opposed to reason and
natural truths, but would rather offer heartfelt thanks to God,
and sincerely rejoice that, in the density of ignorance and in the
flood-tide of error, holy faith, like a friendly star, shines down
upon his path and points out to him the fair gate of truth beyond
all danger of wandering.
10.
If, venerable brethren, you open the history of philosophy, you
will find all We have just said proved by experience. The
philosophers of old who lacked the gift of faith, yet were
esteemed so wise, fell into many appalling errors. You know how
often among some truths they taught false and incongruous things;
what vague and doubtful opinions they held concerning the nature
of the Divinity, the first origin of things, the government of the
world, the divine knowledge of the future, the cause and principle
of evil, the ultimate end of man, the eternal beatitude,
concerning virtue and vice, and other matters, a true and certain
knowledge of which is most necessary to the human race; while, on
the other hand, the early Fathers and Doctors of the Church, who
well understood that, according to the divine plan, the restorer
of human science is Christ, who is the power and the wisdom of
God,(27) and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge,(28) took up and investigated the books of the ancient
philosophers, and compared their teachings with the doctrines of
revelation, and, carefully sifting them, they cherished what was
true and wise in them and amended or rejected all else. For, as
the all-seeing God against the cruelty of tyrants raised up mighty
martyrs to the defense of the Church, men prodigal of their great
lives, in like manner to false philosophers and heretics He
opposed men of great wisdom, to defend, even by the aid of human
reason, the treasure of revealed truths. Thus, from the very first
ages of the Church, the Catholic doctrine has encountered a
multitude of most bitter adversaries, who, deriding the Christian
dogmas and institutions, maintained that there were many gods,
that the material world never had a beginning or cause, and that
the course of events was one of blind and fatal necessity, not
regulated by the will of Divine Providence.
11.
But the learned men whom We call apologists speedily encountered
these teachers of foolish doctrine and, under the guidance of
faith, found arguments in human wisdom also to prove that one God,
who stands preeminent in every kind of perfection, is to be
worshipped; that all things were created from nothing by His
omnipotent power; that by His wisdom they flourish and serve each
their own special purposes. Among these St. Justin Martyr claims
the chief place. After having tried the most celebrated academies
of the Greeks, he saw clearly, as he himself confesses, that he
could only draw truths in their fullness from the doctrine of
revelation. These he embraced with all the ardor of his soul,
purged of calumny, courageously and fully defended before the
Roman emperors, and reconciled with them not a few of the sayings
of the Greek philosophers.
12.
Quadratus, also, and Aristides, Hermias, and Athenagoras stood
nobly forth in that time. Nor did Irenaeus, the invincible martyr
and Bishop of Lyons, win less glory in the same cause when,
forcibly refuting the perverse opinions of the Orientals, the work
of the Gnostics, scattered broadcast over the territories of the
Roman Empire, he explained (according to Jerome) the origin of
each heresy and in what philosophic source it took its rise.(29)
But who knows not the disputations of Clement of Alexandria, which
the same Jerome thus honorably commemorates: "What is there
in them that is not learned, and what that is not of the very
heart of philosophy?"(30) He himself, indeed, with marvelous
versatility treated of many things of the greatest utility for
preparing a history of philosophy, for the exercise of the
dialectic art, and for showing the agreement between reason and
faith. After him came Origen, who graced the chair of the school
of Alexandria, and was most learned in the teachings of the Greeks
and Orientals. He published many volumes, involving great labor,
which were wonderfully adapted to explain the divine writings and
illustrate the sacred dogmas; which, though, as they now stand,
not altogether free from error, contain nevertheless a wealth of
knowledge tending to the growth and advance of natural truths.
Tertullian opposes heretics with the authority of the sacred
writings; with the philosophers he changes his fence and disputes
philosophically; but so learnedly and accurately did he confute
them that he made bold to say: "Neither in science nor in
schooling are we equals, as you imagine."(31) Arnobius, also,
in his works against the pagans, and Lactantius in the divine
Institutions especially, with equal eloquence and strength
strenuously strive to move men to accept the dogmas and precepts
of Catholic wisdom, not by philosophic juggling, after the fashion
of the Academicians, but vanquishing them partly by their own
arms, and partly by arguments drawn from the mutual contentions of
the philosophers.(32) But the writings on the human soul, the
divine attributes, and other questions of mighty moment which the
great Athanasius and Chrysostom, the prince of orators, have left
behind them are, by common consent, so supremely excellent that it
seems scarcely anything could be added to their subtlety and
fullness. And, not to cover too wide a range, we add to the number
of the great men of whom mention has been made the names of Basil
the Great and of the two Gregories, who, on going forth from
Athens, that home of all learning, thoroughly equipped with all
the harness of philosophy, turned the wealth of knowledge which
each had gathered up in a course of zealous study to the work of
refuting heretics and preparing Christians.
13.
But Augustine would seem to have wrested the palm from all. Of a
most powerful genius and thoroughly saturated with sacred and
profane learning, with the loftiest faith and with equal
knowledge, he combated most vigorously all the errors of his age.
What topic of philosophy did he not investigate? What region of it
did he not diligently explore, either in expounding the loftiest
mysteries of the faith to the faithful, or defending them against
the full onslaught of adversaries, or again when, in demolishing
the fables of the Academicians or the Manichaeans, he laid the
safe foundations and sure structure of human science, or followed
up the reason, origin, and causes of the evils that afflict man?
How subtly he reasoned on the angels, the soul, the human mind,
the will and free choice, on religion and the life of the blessed,
on time and eternity, and even on the very nature of changeable
bodies. Afterwards, in the East, John Damascene, treading in the
footsteps of Basil and of Gregory of Nazianzen, and in the West,
Boethius and Anselm following the doctrines of Augustine, added
largely to the patrimony of philosophy.
14.
Later on, the doctors of the middle ages, who are called
Scholastics, addressed themselves to a great work - that of
diligently collecting, and sifting, and storing up, as it were, in
one place, for the use and convenience of posterity the rich and
fertile harvests of Christian learning scattered abroad in the
voluminous works of the holy Fathers. And with regard, venerable
brethren, to the origin, drift, and excellence of this scholastic
learning, it may be well here to speak more fully in the words of
one of the wisest of Our predecessors, Sixtus V: "By the
divine favor of Him who alone gives the spirit of science, and
wisdom, and understanding, and who though all ages, as there may
be need, enriches His Church with new blessings and strengthens it
with new safeguards, there was founded by Our fathers, men of
eminent wisdom, the scholastic theology, which two glorious
doctors in particular, the angelic St. Thomas and the seraphic St.
Bonaventure, illustrious teachers of this faculty, ...with
surpassing genius, by unwearied diligence, and at the cost of long
labors and vigils, set in order and beautified, and when
skillfully arranged and clearly explained in a variety of ways,
handed down to posterity.
15.
"And, indeed, the knowledge and use of so salutary a science,
which flows from the fertilizing founts of the sacred writings,
the sovereign Pontiffs, the holy Fathers and the councils, must
always be of the greatest assistance to the Church, whether with
the view of really and soundly understanding and interpreting the
Scriptures, or more safely and to better purpose reading and
explaining the Fathers, or for exposing and refuting the various
errors and heresies; and in these late days, when those dangerous
times described by the Apostle are already upon us, when the
blasphemers, the proud, and the seducers go from bad to worse,
erring themselves and causing others to err, there is surely a
very great need of confirming the dogmas of Catholic faith and
confuting heresies."
16.
Although these words seem to bear reference solely to Scholastic
theology, nevertheless they may plainly be accepted as equally
true of philosophy and its praises. For, the noble endowments
which make the Scholastic theology so formidable to the enemies of
truth - to wit, as the same Pontiff adds, "that ready and
close coherence of cause and effect, that order and array as of a
disciplined army in battle, those clear definitions and
distinctions, that strength of argument and those keen
discussions, by which light is distinguished from darkness, the
true from the false, expose and strip naked, as it were, the
falsehoods of heretics wrapped around by a cloud of subterfuges
and fallacies"(33) - those noble and admirable endowments, We
say, are only to be found in a right use of that philosophy which
the Scholastic teachers have been accustomed carefully and
prudently to make use of even in theological disputations.
Moreover, since it is the proper and special office of the
Scholastic theologians to bind together by the fastest chain human
and divine science, surely the theology in which they excelled
would not have gained such honor and commendation among men if
they had made use of a lame and imperfect or vain philosophy.
17.
Among the Scholastic Doctors, the chief and master of all towers
Thomas Aquinas, who, as Cajetan observes, because "he most
venerated the ancient Doctors of the Church, in a certain way
seems to have inherited the intellect of all."(34) The
doctrines of those illustrious men, like the scattered members of
a body, Thomas collected together and cemented, distributed in
wonderful order, and so increased with important additions that he
is rightly and deservedly esteemed the special bulwark and glory
of the Catholic faith. With his spirit at once humble and swift,
his memory ready and tenacious, his life spotless throughout, a
lover of truth for its own sake, richly endowed with human and
divine science, like the sun he heated the world with the warmth
of his virtues and filled it with the splendor of his teaching.
Philosophy has no part which he did not touch finely at once and
thoroughly; on the laws of reasoning, on God and incorporeal
substances, on man and other sensible things, on human actions and
their principles, he reasoned in such a manner that in him there
is wanting neither a full array of questions, nor an apt disposal
of the various parts, nor the best method of proceeding, nor
soundness of principles or strength of argument, nor clearness and
elegance of style, nor a facility for explaining what is abstruse.
18.
Moreover, the Angelic Doctor pushed his philosophic inquiry into
the reasons and principles of things, which because they are most
comprehensive and contain in their bosom, so to say, the seeds of
almost infinite truths, were to be unfolded in good time by later
masters and with a goodly yield. And as he also used this
philosophic method in the refutation of error, he won this title
to distinction for himself: that, single-handed, he victoriously
combated the errors of former times, and supplied invincible arms
to put those to rout which might in after-times spring up. Again,
clearly distinguishing, as is fitting, reason from faith, while
happily associating the one with the other, he both preserved the
rights and had regard for the dignity of each; so much so, indeed,
that reason borne on the wings of Thomas to its human height, can
scarcely rise higher, while faith could scarcely expect more or
stronger aids from reason than those which she has already
obtained through Thomas.
19.
For these reasons most learned men, in former ages especially, of
the highest repute in theology and philosophy, after mastering
with infinite pains the immortal works of Thomas, gave themselves
up not so much to be instructed in his angelic wisdom as to be
nourished upon it. It is known that nearly all the founders and
lawgivers of the religious orders commanded their members to study
and religiously adhere to the teachings of St. Thomas, fearful
least any of them should swerve even in the slightest degree from
the footsteps of so great a man. To say nothing of the family of
St. Dominic, which rightly claims this great teacher for its own
glory, the statutes of the Benedictines, the Carmelites, the
Augustinians, the Society of Jesus, and many others all testify
that they are bound by this law.
20.
And, here, how pleasantly one's thoughts fly back to those
celebrated schools and universities which flourished of old in
Europe - to Paris, Salamanca, Alcala, to Douay, Toulouse, and
Louvain, to Padua and Bologna, to Naples and Coimbra, and to many
another! All know how the fame of these seats of learning grew
with their years, and that their judgment, often asked in matters
of grave moment, held great weight everywhere. And we know how in
those great homes of human wisdom, as in his own kingdom, Thomas
reigned supreme; and that the minds of all, of teachers as well as
of taught, rested in wonderful harmony under the shield and
authority of the Angelic Doctor.
21.
But, furthermore, Our predecessors in the Roman pontificate have
celebrated the wisdom of Thomas Aquinas by exceptional tributes of
praise and the most ample testimonials. Clement VI in the bull
"In Ordine;" Nicholas V in his brief to the friars of
the Order of Preachers, 1451; Benedict XIII in the bull "Pretiosus,"
and others bear witness that the universal Church borrows luster
from his admirable teaching; while St. Pius V declares in the bull
"Mirabilis" that heresies, confounded and convicted by
the same teaching, were dissipated, and the whole world daily
freed from fatal errors; others, such as Clement XII in the bull
"Verbo Dei," affirm that most fruitful blessings have
spread abroad from his writings over the whole Church, and that he
is worthy of the honor which is bestowed on the greatest Doctors
of the Church, on Gregory and Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome; while
others have not hesitated to propose St. Thomas for the exemplar
and master of the universities and great centers of learning whom
they may follow with unfaltering feet. On which point the words of
Blessed Urban V to the University of Toulouse are worthy of
recall: "It is our will, which We hereby enjoin upon you,
that ye follow the teaching of Blessed Thomas as the true and
Catholic doctrine and that ye labor with all your force to profit
by the same."(35) Innocent XII, followed the example of Urban
in the case of the University of Louvain, in the letter in the
form of a brief addressed to that university on February 6, 1694,
and Benedict XIV in the letter in the form of a brief addressed on
August 26, 1752, to the Dionysian College in Granada; while to
these judgments of great Pontiffs on Thomas Aquinas comes the
crowning testimony of Innocent VI: "His teaching above that
of others, the canonical writings alone excepted, enjoys such a
precision of language, an order of matters, a truth of
conclusions, that those who hold to it are never found swerving
from the path of truth, and he who dare assail it will always be
suspected of error."(36)
22.
The ecumenical councils, also, where blossoms the flower of all
earthly wisdom, have always been careful to hold Thomas Aquinas in
singular honor. In the Councils of Lyons, Vienna, Florence, and
the Vatican one might almost say that Thomas took part and
presided over the deliberations and decrees of the Fathers,
contending against the errors of the Greeks, of heretics and
rationalists, with invincible force and with the happiest results.
But the chief and special glory of Thomas, one which he has shared
with none of the Catholic Doctors, is that the Fathers of Trent
made it part of the order of conclave to lay upon the altar,
together with sacred Scripture and the decrees of the supreme
Pontiffs, the "Summa" of Thomas Aquinas, whence to seek
counsel, reason, and inspiration.
23.
A last triumph was reserved for this incomparable man - namely, to
compel the homage, praise, and admiration of even the very enemies
of the Catholic name. For it has come to light that there were not
lacking among the leaders of heretical sects some who openly
declared that, if the teaching of Thomas Aquinas were only taken
away, they could easily battle with all Catholic teachers, gain
the victory, and abolish the Church.(37) A vain hope, indeed, but
no vain testimony.
24.
Therefore, venerable brethren, as often as We contemplate the
good, the force, and the singular advantages to be derived from
his philosophic discipline which Our Fathers so dearly loved. We
think it hazardous that its special honor should not always and
everywhere remain, especially when it is established that daily
experience, and the judgment of the greatest men, and, to crown
all, the voice of the Church, have favored the Scholastic
philosophy. Moreover, to the old teaching a novel system of
philosophy has succeeded here and there, in which We fail to
perceive those desirable and wholesome fruits which the Church and
civil society itself would prefer. For it pleased the struggling
innovators of the sixteenth century to philosophize without any
respect for faith, the power of inventing in accordance with his
own pleasure and bent being asked and given in turn by each one.
Hence, it was natural that systems of philosophy multiplied beyond
measure, and conclusions differing and clashing one with another
arose about those matters even which are the most important in
human knowledge. From a mass of conclusions men often come to
wavering and doubt; and who knows not how easily the mind slips
from doubt to error? But, as men are apt to follow the lead given
them, this new pursuit seems to have caught the souls of certain
Catholic philosophers, who, throwing aside the patrimony of
ancient wisdom, chose rather to build up a new edifice than to
strengthen and complete the old by aid of the new - illadvisedly,
in truth, and not without detriment to the sciences. For, a
multiform system of this kind, which depends on the authority and
choice of any professor, has a foundation open to change, and
consequently gives us a philosophy not firm, and stable, and
robust like that of old, but tottering and feeble. And if,
perchance, it sometimes finds itself scarcely equal to sustain the
shock of its foes, it should recognize that the cause and the
blame lie in itself. In saying this We have no intention of
discountenancing the learned and able men who bring their industry
and erudition, and, what is more, the wealth of new discoveries,
to the service of philosophy; for, of course, We understand that
this tends to the development of learning. But one should be very
careful lest all of his chief labor be exhausted in these pursuits
and in mere erudition. And the same thing is true of sacred
theology, which, indeed, may be assisted and illustrated by all
kinds of erudition, though it is absolutely necessary to approach
it in the grave manner of the Scholastics, in order that, the
forces of revelation and reason being united in it, it may
continue to be "the invincible bulwark of the
faith."(38)
25.
With wise forethought, therefore, not a few of the advocates of
philosophic studies, when turning their minds recently to the
practical reform of philosophy, aimed and aim at restoring the
renowned teaching of Thomas Aquinas and winning it back to its
ancient beauty.
26.
We have learned with great joy that many members of your order,
venerable brethren, have taken this plan to heart; and while We
earnestly commend their efforts, We exhort them to hold fast to
their purpose, and remind each and all of you that Our first and
most cherished idea is that you should all furnish to studious
youth a generous and copious supply of those purest streams of
wisdom flowing inexhaustibly from the precious fountainhead of the
Angelic Doctor.
27.
Many are the reasons why We are so desirous of this. In the first
place, then, since in the tempest that is on us the Christian
faith is being constantly assailed by the machinations and craft of
a certain false wisdom, all youths, but especially those who are
the growing hope of the Church, should be nourished on the strong
and robust food of doctrine, that so, mighty in strength and armed
at all points, they may become habituated to advance the cause of
religion with force and judgment, "being ready always,
according to the apostolic counsel, to satisfy every one that
asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you,"(39) and
that they may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to convince
the gainsayers.(40) Many of those who, with minds alienated from
the faith, hate Catholic institutions, claim reason as their sole
mistress and guide. Now, We think that, apart from the
supernatural help of God, nothing is better calculated to heal
those minds and to bring them into favor with the Catholic faith
than the solid doctrine of the Fathers and the Scholastics, who so
clearly and forcibly demonstrate the firm foundations of the
faith, its divine origin, its certain truth, the arguments that
sustain it, the benefits it has conferred on the human race, and
its perfect accord with reason, in a manner to satisfy completely
minds open to persuasion, however unwilling and repugnant.
28.
Domestic and civil society even, which, as all see, is exposed to
great danger from this plague of perverse opinions, would
certainly enjoy a far more peaceful and secure existence if a more
wholesome doctrine were taught in the universities and high
schools - one more in conformity with the teaching of the Church,
such as is contained in the works of Thomas Aquinas.
29.
For, the teachings of Thomas on the true meaning of liberty, which
at this time is running into license, on the divine origin of all
authority, on laws and their force, on the paternal and just rule
of princes, on obedience to the higher powers, on mutual charity
one toward another - on all of these and kindred subjects - have
very great and invincible force to overturn those principles of
the new order which are well known to be dangerous to the peaceful
order of things and to public safety. In short, all studies ought
to find hope of advancement and promise of assistance in this
restoration of philosophic discipline which We have proposed. The
arts were wont to draw from philosophy, as from a wise mistress,
sound judgment and right method, and from it, also, their spirit,
as from the common fount of life. When philosophy stood stainless
in honor and wise in judgment, then, as facts and constant
experience showed, the liberal arts flourished as never before or
since; but, neglected and almost blotted out, they lay prone,
since philosophy began to lean to error and join hands with folly.
Nor will the physical sciences themselves, which are now in such
great repute, and by the renown of so many inventions draw such
universal admiration to themselves, suffer detriment, but find
very great assistance in the restoration of the ancient
philosophy. For, the investigation of facts and the contemplation
of nature is not alone sufficient for their profitable exercise
and advance; but, when facts have been established, it is
necessary to rise and apply ourselves to the study of the nature
of corporeal things, to inquire into the laws which govern them
and the principles whence their order and varied unity and mutual
attraction in diversity arise. To such investigations it is
wonderful what force and light and aid the Scholastic philosophy,
if judiciously taught, would bring.
30.
And here it is well to note that our philosophy can only by the
grossest injustice be accused of being opposed to the advance and
development of natural science. For, when the Scholastics,
following the opinion of the holy Fathers, always held in
anthropology that the human intelligence is only led to the
knowledge of things without body and matter by things sensible,
they well understood that nothing was of greater use to the
philosopher than diligently to search into the mysteries of nature
and to be earnest and constant in the study of physical things.
And this they confirmed by their own example; for St. Thomas,
Blessed Albertus Magnus, and other leaders of the Scholastics were
never so wholly rapt in the study of philosophy as not to give
large attention to the knowledge of natural things; and, indeed,
the number of their sayings and writings on these subjects, which
recent professors approve of and admit to harmonize with truth, is
by no means small. Moreover, in this very age many illustrious
professors of the physical sciences openly testify that between
certain and accepted conclusions of modern physics and the
philosophic principles of the schools there is no conflict worthy
of the name.
31.
While, therefore, We hold that every word of wisdom, every useful
thing by whomsoever discovered or planned, ought to be received
with a willing and grateful mind, We exhort you, venerable
brethren, in all earnestness to restore the golden wisdom of St.
Thomas, and to spread it far and wide for the defense and beauty
of the Catholic faith, for the good of society, and for the
advantage of all the sciences. The wisdom of St. Thomas, We say;
for if anything is taken up with too great subtlety by the
Scholastic doctors, or too carelessly stated - if there be
anything that ill agrees with the discoveries of a later age, or,
in a word, improbable in whatever way - it does not enter Our mind
to propose that for imitation to Our age. Let carefully selected
teachers endeavor to implant the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas in the
minds of students, and set forth clearly his solidity and
excellence over others. Let the universities already founded or to
be founded by you illustrate and defend this doctrine, and use it
for the refutation of prevailing errors. But, lest the false for
the true or the corrupt for the pure be drunk in, be ye watchful
that the doctrine of Thomas be drawn from his own fountains, or at
least from those rivulets which, derived from the very fount, have
thus far flowed, according to the established agreement of learned
men, pure and clear; be careful to guard the minds of youth from
those which are said to flow thence, but in reality are gathered
from strange and unwholesome streams.
32.
But well do We know that vain will be Our efforts unless,
venerable brethren, He helps Our common cause who, in the words of
divine Scripture, is called the God of all knowledge;(41) by which
we are also admonished that "every best gift and every
perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of
lights",(42) and again: "If any of you want wisdom, let
him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth
not: and it shall be given him."(43)
33.
Therefore in this also let us follow the example of the Angelic
Doctor, who never gave himself to reading or writing without first
begging the blessing of God, who modestly confessed that whatever
he knew he had acquired not so much by his own study and labor as
by the divine gift; and therefore let us all, in humble and united
prayer, beseech God to send forth the spirit of knowledge and of
understanding to the children of the Church and open their senses
for the understanding of wisdom. And that we may receive fuller
fruits of the divine goodness, offer up to God the most
efficacious patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is called
the seat of wisdom; having at the same time as advocates St.
Joseph, the most chaste spouse of the Virgin, and Peter and Paul,
the chiefs of the Apostles, whose truth renewed the earth which
had fallen under the impure blight of error, filling it with the
light of heavenly wisdom.
34.
In fine, relying on the divine assistance and confiding in your
pastoral zeal, most lovingly We bestow on all of you, venerable
brethren, on all the clergy and the flocks committed to your
charge, the apostolic benediction as a pledge of heavenly gifts
and a token of Our special esteem.
Given
at St. Peter's, in Rome, the fourth day of August, 1879, the
second year of our pontificate.
Endnotes:
1.
Mt. 28:19. | 2. Col. 2:8. | 3. 1 Cor. 2:4. | 4. See "Inscrutabili
Dei consilio," 78:113. | 5. "De Trinitate," 14, 1,
3 (PL 42, 1037); quoted by Thomas Aquinas, "Summa theologiae,"
1, 1, 2. | 6. Clement of Alexandria, "Stromata," 1, 16
(PG 8, 795); 7, 3 (PG 9, 426). | 7. Origen, "Epistola ad
Gregorium" (PG 11, 87-91). | 8. Clement of Alexandria, "Stromata,"
1, 5 (PG 8, 718-719). | 9. Rom. 1:20. | 10. Rom. 2:14-15. | 11.
Gregory of Neo-Caesarea [also called Gregory Thaumaturgus ("miracle worker")], "In Origenem oratio
panegyrica," 6 (PG 10, 1093A). | 12. Carm., 1, lamb. 3 (PG
37, 1045A-1047A). | 13. "Vita Moysis" (PG 44, 359). |
14. "Epistola ad Magnum," 4 (PL 22, 667). Quadratus,
Justin Irenaeus, are counted among the early Christian apologists,
who devoted their works to the defense of Christian truth against
the pagans. | 15. "De doctrina christiana," 1, 2, 40 (PL
34, 63). | 16. Wis. 13:1. | 17. Wis. 13:5. | 18. 2 Pt. 1:16. | 19.
"Const. Dogm, de fid. Cath.," c. 3. | 20. "Const.
cit.," c. 4. | 21. Loc. at. | 22. "Stromata," 1, 20
(PG 8, 818). | 23. "Epistola ad Magnum," 2.
| 24. Bulla "Apostolici regiminis." | 25. "Epistola
147, ad Marcellinum," 7 (PL 33, 589). | 26. "Const. Dogm.
de fid. Cath.," c. 4. | 27. 1 Cor. 1:24. | 28. Col. 2:3. |
29. "Epistola ad Magnum," 4 (PL 22, 667). | 30. Loc.
cit. | 31. Tertullian, "Apologet.," 46 (PL 1, 573). |
32. Lactantius, "Div. Inst.," 7, 7 (PL 6, 759). | 33.
Bulla "Triumphantis," an. 1588. | 34. Cajetan's
commentary on "Sum. theol.," IIa - IIae 148, 9. Art. 4;
Leonine edit., Vol. 10, p. 174, n. 6. | 35. "Constitutio 5a, 3 Aug. 1368," ad Cancell. Univ. Tolos. | 36. "Sermo
de S. Thoma." | 37. Bucer. | 38. Sixtus V, Bulla "Triumphantis."
| 39. 1 Pt. 3:15. | 40. Ti. 1:9. | 41. 1 Kgs. 2:3. | 42. Jms. 1:17. | 43. Jms. 1:5.
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