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. WebAeterni Patris Filius (English: Son of the Eternal Father ), also called Aeterni Patris, was a bull issued by Pope Gregory XV on 15 November 1621 that regulated papal conclaves. Thomas Aquinas has long been held in singular honor in the ecumenical councils, including those of Lyons, Vienne, Florence, and the Vatican. The nineteenth paragraph begins a discussion of the many ways in which Aquinass authority has been recognized through the centuries. Jump to Page . WebAETERNI PATRIS The name of two papal documents of Pius IX and Leo XIII. The Code of Canon Law of 1917, the official compilation of church law, required that Catholic teachers of philosophy and religion follow the method and principles of Aquinas. The great and noble fruits gathered from natural reason, as described in the fifth paragraph, include its ability to recognize that the doctrine of the Gospel has even from its very beginning been made manifest by certain wonderful signs. The spread, sanctity, and unity of the Church is another sign that reason can recognize. Scholastic philosophy, with its sound judgment, right method, and spirit, will strengthen and guide all the different disciplines, including the liberal arts and the physical sciences. De Trinitate, 14, 1, 3 (PL 42, 1037); quoted by Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, 1, 1, 2. WebAETERNI PATRIS The name of two papal documents of Pius IX and Leo XIII.
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 1,5 (PG 8, 718-719). 24.
If, venerable brethren, you open the history of philosophy, you will find all We have just said proved by experience. The spirit and thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas advocated by the encyclical has proven a valuable resource for Catholic philosophy and theology in bringing both faith and reason to bear on the problems of modern life. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aeterni-Patris, The Catholic Encyclopedia - Biography of Aeterni Patris. 12. Lactantius, Div. Their inventions were in accordance with their own whims, and so, naturally, there arose a great diversity of philosophies, differing and clashing even in those matters of human knowledge that are most important. Aeterni Patris, an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on Aug. 4, 1879, which strengthened the position of the philosophical system of the medieval Scholastic philosopher-theologian St. Thomas Aquinas and soon made Thomism the dominant philosophical viewpoint in Roman Catholicism. But the Pope declares that the actual condition of thought makes it a duty for him to do something for the study of true philosophy; because many present evils are to be ascribed to false philosophy, inasmuch as, since man is naturally led by reason, whither the reason leads the will easily follows. WebPublication of Aeterni Patris Hector Scerri University of Malta Abstract The article explores Neo-Scholasticism, a period in Catholic theology which, normally nowadays, attracts little attention. (23) Moreover, the Church herself not only urges, but even commands, Christian teachers to seek help from philosophy.
Defensively it protects the revealed truth from distortion; offensively it weakens arguments contrary to revealed truth. 7. Hence, in the Popes appeal to the bishops of the Christian world to help in restoring and spreading the wisdom (sapientiam) of St. Thomas, he repeats, Sapientiam Sancti Thomae dicimus, because, as he explains, he does not at all ask to have the excessive subtilties of some scholastics revived, nor opinions which later investigations have exploded. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 1, 16 (PG 8, 795); 7, 3 (PG 9, 426). 32.34. The aim of the encyclical was to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy.
Gregory of Neo-Caesarea (also called Gregory Thaumaturgus that is "the miracle worker"), In Origenem oratio panegyrica, 6 (PG 10, 1093A). 
Then came the Scholastics of the Middle Ages, who brought together and bound into one harmonious whole, by a system of philosophy, the Christian wisdom of the Fathers. To the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See. 15. 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.
(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.
WebAeterni Patris, an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on Aug. 4, 1879, which strengthened the position of the philosophical system of the medieval Scholastic philosopher-theologian St. Thomas Aquinas and soon made Thomism the dominant philosophical viewpoint in Roman Catholicism. | See original listing Condition: Very Good Book is in Very Good Condition. 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. Quadratus, also, and Aristides, Hermias, and Athenagoras stood nobly forth in that time. Search inside document . However, Christ, as the power and wisdom of God, restores knowledge through his followers, and by their efforts redeems what is true in pagan philosophy. The Church commands Christian teachers to enlist the help of philosophy in instructing the faithful but cautions against philosophical arguments that are contrary to revealed truth. [1] It was subtitled "On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Catholic Schools in the Spirit (ad mentem) of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas".
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. 4. Download now. WebAeterni Patris Unigenitus Filius, qui in terris apparuit, ut humano generi salutem et divinae sapientiae lucem afferret, magnum plane ac mirabile mundo contulit beneficium, cum caelos iterum ascensurus, Apostolis praecepit, ut euntes docerent omnes gentes (Matth. The Encyclical points out how some have turned away from it, but passes on to show how it can help in the pursuit of metaphysical and social science. WebAETERNI PATRIS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE RESTORATION OF CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. 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. 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. Faith frees and saves reason from error, and endows it with manifold knowledge. Revelation serves as a lamp for the philosophers path toward truth.
theol., IIa-IIae 148, 9.
"(40) Many of those who, with minds alienated from the faith, hate Catholic institutions, claim reason as their sole mistress and guide. 9. 32. is nourished, defended, and made strong."(5). 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. 26. See also the encyclical letter of Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri (December 31, 1929, On the Christian Education of Youth.) 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 . This established Thomism as the official philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church. WebIt opens with the consideration that the Church, although officially the teacher of revealed truth only, has always been interested in the cultivation of every branch of human knowledge, especially of philosophy on which the right cultivation of other sciences in great measure depends. 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. 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.. Paragraph 14 speaks of the doctors of the middle ages, the Scholastics, whose contribution to the tradition was their 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. Pope Leo XIII quotes Pope Sixtus V, who names in particular the angelic St. Thomas and the seraphic St. Bonaventure as preeminent doctors whose surpassing genius and unwearied diligence aided in further advancing the tradition. You are on page 1 of 17. In paragraph 16, the praise of scholastic theology is extended to the philosophy upon which it is based. The encyclical goes on in paragraph 27 to urge the teaching of scholastic philosophy and theology, especially to the young seminarians who are the growing hope of the Church. Scholastic thought is likened to a strong weapon with which one may best defend the Catholic faith against the assault waged against her by the machinations and craft of a certain false wisdom. Scholastic philosophy is presented as second only to the supernatural help of God, in its ability to defend the faith. 
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. Although Thomism had already enjoyed a half-century revival before 1879 through the writings of scholars such as Carlo Maria Curci (d. 1891), Giovanni Maria Cornoldi (d. 1892), and Tommaso Zigliara (d. 1893), Aeterni Patris heralded a renaissance of Thomism that still reverberates in modern theological and philosophical discourse. In paragraph 18, Thomas is said to have triumphed over previous errors, and supplied those who follow him with the means to defeat other errors that would arise. The document ends with an invocation of Gods grace and the blessing of the saints, for the important work that is recommended in the encyclical. WebAeterni Patris, the Encyclical, of Leo XIII, issued August 4, 1879. WebIn 1880 Leo made Aquinas patron of all Roman Catholic schools. 5. 34. 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.
11). 35. 31. 
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. 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?
10). 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.
And who does not see that a plain and easy road is opened up to faith by such a method of philosophic study? "terni Patris." 2. The Relationship between Philosophy and Faith in Historical Perspective. 3 (PG 37, 1045A-1047A). Philosophy and revelation represent two realms of knowledge. 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. WebSave Save CATHOLIC LIBRARY_ Aeterni Patris (1879).pdf For Later.