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Aeterni Patris
Aeterni Patris (English: Of the Eternal Father) was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in August 1879. It was subtitled "On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Catholic Schools in the Spirit (ad mentem) of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas". The aim of the encyclical was to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy.
In August 1879, eighteen months into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIII (formerly Joachim Cardinal Pecci, bishop of Perugia), issued the encyclical letter Aeterni Patris. The aim of the encyclical was to aid and advance the restoration of Christian philosophy, which he felt had fallen into danger and disrepute by adhering to modern trends in secular philosophy, by urging a return to the scholastic thinkers of the Middle Ages, most especially the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, and the related philosophical system of Thomism. The encyclical attempts to clarify the roles of faith and philosophy, later to be covered again in John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio (On Faith and Reason), showing how most beneficially each may profit from the other.
The purpose of Leo XIII was the revival of St. Thomas's philosophy and the continuing of his spirit of investigation, but not necessarily the adoption of every argument and opinion to be found in the works of the scholastics. According to the encyclical, the philosophy most conformable and useful for the faith is that of St. Thomas. The vigorous reintroduction of St. Thomas into the Catholic philosophical teaching was perceived by many as a bold and unprecedented step by the new pope. Indeed, since the French Revolution, most pontiffs had preferred to condemn the errors in contemporary philosophy, not to recommend explicitly a return to the old. The encyclical, however, was no surprise to any acquainted with Cardinal Pecci, who had for years been spearheading a Thomistic renaissance in the schools in his diocese of Perugia, leading to such theologians and philosophers as Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Etienne Gilson, and Jacques Maritain.
The content of the encyclical was strongly influenced by Tommaso Maria Zigliara professor from 1870 to 1879 at the College of Saint Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum. "Zigliara also helped prepare the great encyclicals Aeterni Patris and Rerum novarum and strongly opposed traditionalism and ontologism in favor of the moderate realism of Aquinas."
Zigliara, a member of seven Roman congregations including the Congregation for Studies, was a co-founder of the Academia Romano di San Tommaso in 1870. Zigliara's fame as a scholar at the forefront of the Thomist revival at the time of his rectorship of the College of St. Thomas after 1873 was widespread in Rome and elsewhere. Following the publication of this encyclical Pope Leo XIII created the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas on October 15, 1879, and ordered the publication of the critical edition, the so-called "leonine edition", of the complete works of Aquinas, the doctor angelicus. The superintendence of the leonine edition was entrusted to Zigliara.
Introduction 1. The opening paragraph begins with a reference to Christ’s command to His Apostles to set all men free by teaching the truth of the faith to all nations (Matthew 28:19). Although philosophy can and has deceived men about important matters, it is also capable of illuminating the other sciences. This, then, is the aim of Aeterni Patris: to promote the kind of philosophy that “shall respond most fitly to the excellence of faith, and at the same time [is] consonant with the dignity of human science.”
2. The errors of philosophy have caused problems in public and private life. Philosophy alone is insufficient to emerge from error or prevent further erroneous conclusions “concerning divine or human things.” The faith of the Christian religion preserves philosophic truth by bringing to men “the grace of the divine wisdom.” Neither reason nor philosophy is destroyed by faith; God, creator of “the light of reason in the human mind,” strengthens man and his reason by faith.
3. Pointing to the Church Fathers, the encyclical shows how reason and science were used to call people to faith.
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Aeterni Patris
Aeterni Patris (English: Of the Eternal Father) was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in August 1879. It was subtitled "On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Catholic Schools in the Spirit (ad mentem) of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas". The aim of the encyclical was to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy.
In August 1879, eighteen months into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIII (formerly Joachim Cardinal Pecci, bishop of Perugia), issued the encyclical letter Aeterni Patris. The aim of the encyclical was to aid and advance the restoration of Christian philosophy, which he felt had fallen into danger and disrepute by adhering to modern trends in secular philosophy, by urging a return to the scholastic thinkers of the Middle Ages, most especially the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, and the related philosophical system of Thomism. The encyclical attempts to clarify the roles of faith and philosophy, later to be covered again in John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio (On Faith and Reason), showing how most beneficially each may profit from the other.
The purpose of Leo XIII was the revival of St. Thomas's philosophy and the continuing of his spirit of investigation, but not necessarily the adoption of every argument and opinion to be found in the works of the scholastics. According to the encyclical, the philosophy most conformable and useful for the faith is that of St. Thomas. The vigorous reintroduction of St. Thomas into the Catholic philosophical teaching was perceived by many as a bold and unprecedented step by the new pope. Indeed, since the French Revolution, most pontiffs had preferred to condemn the errors in contemporary philosophy, not to recommend explicitly a return to the old. The encyclical, however, was no surprise to any acquainted with Cardinal Pecci, who had for years been spearheading a Thomistic renaissance in the schools in his diocese of Perugia, leading to such theologians and philosophers as Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Etienne Gilson, and Jacques Maritain.
The content of the encyclical was strongly influenced by Tommaso Maria Zigliara professor from 1870 to 1879 at the College of Saint Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum. "Zigliara also helped prepare the great encyclicals Aeterni Patris and Rerum novarum and strongly opposed traditionalism and ontologism in favor of the moderate realism of Aquinas."
Zigliara, a member of seven Roman congregations including the Congregation for Studies, was a co-founder of the Academia Romano di San Tommaso in 1870. Zigliara's fame as a scholar at the forefront of the Thomist revival at the time of his rectorship of the College of St. Thomas after 1873 was widespread in Rome and elsewhere. Following the publication of this encyclical Pope Leo XIII created the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas on October 15, 1879, and ordered the publication of the critical edition, the so-called "leonine edition", of the complete works of Aquinas, the doctor angelicus. The superintendence of the leonine edition was entrusted to Zigliara.
Introduction 1. The opening paragraph begins with a reference to Christ’s command to His Apostles to set all men free by teaching the truth of the faith to all nations (Matthew 28:19). Although philosophy can and has deceived men about important matters, it is also capable of illuminating the other sciences. This, then, is the aim of Aeterni Patris: to promote the kind of philosophy that “shall respond most fitly to the excellence of faith, and at the same time [is] consonant with the dignity of human science.”
2. The errors of philosophy have caused problems in public and private life. Philosophy alone is insufficient to emerge from error or prevent further erroneous conclusions “concerning divine or human things.” The faith of the Christian religion preserves philosophic truth by bringing to men “the grace of the divine wisdom.” Neither reason nor philosophy is destroyed by faith; God, creator of “the light of reason in the human mind,” strengthens man and his reason by faith.
3. Pointing to the Church Fathers, the encyclical shows how reason and science were used to call people to faith.