Today, January 28, is the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, according to the new Calendar. I will post another post for St. Thomas on his Traditional feast day, March 7.
St. Thomas Aquinas
is undoubtedly the greatest Theologian produced by the Catholic Church, and
most likely the greatest philosopher of western civilisation in general.
Several of the Popes before the Second Vatican Council named St. Thomas'
philosophy to be the "official philosophy", or something like it, of
the Catholic Church. And this for one reason: St. Thomas, with his towering
intellect and unsurpassed reasoning, managed to be able to understand and
explain the truths of the faith with much greater clarity than any others
before or after him. What follows is a selection from Pope Leo XIII's great
encyclical, Aeterni Patris, on the restoration of scholastic philosophy, in
which he commends Scholastic Philosophy as exemplified by the teaching of St.
Thomas.
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." 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, Alcalá,
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 lustre 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." 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."
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. 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--ill-advisedly, in sooth, 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 or 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."
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.
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