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Doctoris Angelici
Pope Pius X
29 June 1914
Motu Proprio for Italy and the adjacent islands, to encourage
the study of the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas in Catholic
Schools.
No true Catholic has ever ventured to call in question the opinion
of the Angelic Doctor that: The regulation of studies is the special
concern of the authority of the Holy See by which the universal Church
is governed and the need is met by the establishment of Universities
(Opusc. Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem, iii). We
have already discharged this great duty of Our office elsewhere, and
more particularly on the 1st September, 1910, when in the Letter
Sacrorum Antistitum, addressed to all Bishops and Superiors of
Religious Orders duly charged with the duty of educating young men for
the priesthood, We counselled them in the first place as follows: "So
far as studies are concerned, it is Our will and We hereby explicitly
ordain that the Scholastic philosophy be considered as the basis of
sacred studies. . . . And what is of capital importance in prescribing
that Scholastic philosophy is to be followed, We have in mind
particularly the philosophy which has been transmitted to us by St.
Thomas Aquinas. It is Our desire that all the enactments of Our
Predecessor in respect thereto be maintained in full force; and, where
need be, We renew and confirm them and order them to be strictly
observed by all concerned. Let Bishops urge and compel their observance
in future in any Seminary in which they may have been neglected. The
same injunction applies also to Superiors of Religious Orders."
Now because the word We used in the text of that letter recommending
the philosophy of Aquinas was 'particularly,' and not 'exclusively,'
certain persons persuaded themselves that they were acting in
conformity to Our Will or at any rate not actively opposing it, in
adopting indiscriminately and adhering to the philosophical opinions of
any other Doctor of the School, even though such opinions were contrary
to the principles of St. Thomas. They were greatly deceived. In
recommending St. Thomas to Our subjects as supreme guide in the
Scholastic philosophy, it goes without saying that Our intention was to
be understood as referring above all to those principles upon which
that philosophy is based as its foundation. For just as the opinion of
certain ancients is to be rejected which maintains that it makes no
difference to the truth of the Faith what any man thinks about the
nature of creation, provided his opinions on the nature of God be
sound, because error with regard to the nature of creation begets a
false knowledge of God; so the principles of philosophy laid down by
St. Thomas Aquinas are to be religiously and inviolably observed,
because they are the means of acquiring such a knowledge of creation as
is most congruent with the Faith (Contra Gentiles, II, 2, 3);
of refuting all the errors of all the ages, and of enabling man to
distinguish clearly what things are to be attributed to God and to God
alone (ibid., iii; and Sum. Theol., 1, xii, 4: and
liv, 1). They also marvellously illustrate the diversity and analogy
between God and His works, a diversity and analogy admirably expressed
by the Fourth Lateran Council as follows: "The resemblance between the
Creator and the creature is such that their still greater dissimilarity
cannot fail to be observed" (Decretalis iii, Damnamus
ergo, etc. Cf. St. Thomas, Quaest, disp. De Scientia Dei,
a. 11). --For the rest, the principles of St. Thomas, considered
generally and as a whole, contain nothing but what the most eminent
philosophers and doctors of the Church have discovered after prolonged
reflection and discussion in regard to the particular reasons
determining human knowledge, the nature of God and creation, the moral
order and the ultimate end to be pursued in life.
St. Thomas perfected and augmented still further by the almost
angelic quality of his intellect all this superb patrimony of wisdom
which he inherited from his predecessors and applied it to prepare,
illustrate and protect sacred doctrine in the minds of men (In
Librum Boethii de Trinitate, quaest, ii, 3). Sound reason suggests
that it would be foolish to neglect it and religion will not suffer it
to be in any way attenuated. And rightly, because, if Catholic doctrine
is once deprived of this strong bulwark, it is useless to seek the
slightest assistance for its defence in a philosophy whose principles
are either common to the errors of materialism, monism, pantheism,
socialism and modernism, or certainly not opposed to such systems. The
reason is that the capital theses in the philosophy of St. Thomas are
not to be placed in the category of opinions capable of being debated
one way or another, but are to be considered as the foundations upon
which the whole science of natural and divine things is based; if such
principles are once removed or in any way impaired, it must necessarily
follow that students of the sacred sciences will ultimately fail to
perceive so much as the meaning of the words in which the dogmas of
divine revelation are proposed by the magistracy of the Church.
We therefore desired that all teachers of philosophy and sacred
theology should be warned that if they deviated so much as a step, in
metaphysics especially, from Aquinas, they exposed themselves to grave
risk. --We now go further and solemnly declare that those who in their
interpretations misrepresent or affect to despise the principles and
major theses of his philosophy are not only not following St. Thomas
but are even far astray from the saintly Doctor. If the doctrine of any
writer or Saint has ever been approved by Us or Our Predecessors with
such singular commendation and in such a way that to the commendation
were added an invitation and order to propagate and defend it, it may
easily be understood that it was commended to the extent that it agreed
with the principles of Aquinas or was in no way opposed to them.
We have deemed it Our apostolic duty to make this declaration and
order so that the clergy, both regular and secular, may clearly know
Our will and mind in a matter of the gravest importance, and fulfil Our
desire with the appropriate alacrity and diligence. Teachers of
Christian philosophy and sacred theology will be particularly zealous
in this respect, for they must bear in mind that they have not been
entrusted with the duty of teaching in order to impart to their pupils
whatever opinions they please, but to instruct them in the most
approved doctrines of the Church.
As for sacred theology itself, it is Our desire that the study of it
be always illuminated by the light of the philosophy before referred
to, but in ordinary clerical seminaries, provided suitable teachers are
available, there is no objection to the use of text books containing
summaries of doctrines derived from the source of Aquinas. There is an
ample supply of excellent works of the kind.
But for the more profound study of this science, as it ought to be
studied in Universities and Colleges and in all Seminaries and
institutions which are empowered to grant academic degrees, it is of
the first importance that the old system of lecturing on the actual
text of the Summa Theologica- which should never have been
allowed to fall into disuse-- be revived; for the reason also that
prelections on this book make it easier to understand and to illustrate
the solemn decrees of the teaching Church and the acts passed in
consequence. For ever since the happy death of the saintly Doctor, the
Church has not held a single Council, but he has been present at it
with the wealth of his doctrine. The experience of so many centuries
has shown and every passing day more clearly proves the truth of the
statement made by Our Predecessor John XXII: "He (Thomas Aquinas)
enlightened the Church more than all the other Doctors together; a man
can derive more profit from his books in one year than from a lifetime
spent in pondering the philosophy of others" (Consistorial address of
1318). St. Pius V confirmed this opinion when he ordered the feast of
St. Thomas as Doctor to be kept by the universal Church: "But inasmuch
as, by the providence of Almighty God, the power and truth of the
philosophy of the Angelic Doctor, ever since his enrolment amongst the
citizens of Heaven, have confounded, refuted and routed many subsequent
heresies, as was so often clearly seen in the past and was lately
apparent in the sacred decrees of the Council of Trent, We order that
the memory of the Doctor by whose valour the world is daily delivered
from pestilential errors be cultivated more than ever before with
feelings of pious and grateful devotion" (Bull Mirabilis Deus
of the 11th April, 1567). To avoid recapitulating the many other
resounding praises of Our Predecessors, We may adopt the following
words of Benedict XIV as a summary of all the commendations bestowed
upon the writings of Thomas Aquinas, more particularly the Summa
Theologica: "Numerous Roman Pontiffs, Our Predecessors, have borne
glorious testimony to his philosophy. We also, in the books which We
have written on various topics, after by diligent examination
perceiving and considering the mind of the Angelic Doctor, have always
adhered and subscribed with joy and admiration to his philosophy, and
candidly confess that whatever good is to be found in Our own Writings
is in no way to be attributed to Us, but entirely to so eminent a
teacher" (Acta Cap. Gen. O.P., vol IX, p. 196).
Therefore that "the philosophy of St. Thomas may flourish incorrupt
and entire in schools, which is very dear to Our heart," and that "the
system of teaching which is based upon the authority and judgement of
the individual teacher" and therefore "has a changeable foundation
whence many diverse and mutually conflicting opinions arise . . . not
without great injury to Christian learning" (Leo XIII, Epist, Qui
te of the 19th June, 1886) be abolished forever, it is Our will
and We hereby order and command that teachers of sacred theology in
Universities, Academies, Colleges, Seminaries and Institutions enjoying
by apostolic indult the privilege of granting academic degrees and
doctorates in philosophy, use the Summa Theologica of St.
Thomas as the text of their prelections and comment upon it in the
Latin tongue, and let them take particular care to inspire their pupils
with a devotion for it.
Such is already the laudable custom of many Institutions. Such was
the rule which the sagacious founders of Religious Orders, with the
hearty approval of Our Predecessors, desired should be observed in
their own houses of study; and the saintly men who came after the time
of St. Thomas Aquinas took him and no other for their supreme teacher
of philosophy. So also and not otherwise will theology recover its
pristine glory and all sacred studies be restored to their order and
value and the province of the intellect and reason flower again in a
second spring.
In future, therefore, no power to grant academic degrees in sacred
theology will be given to any institution unless Our present
prescription is religiously observed therein. Institutions or Faculties
of Orders and Regular Congregations, also, already in lawful possession
of the power of conferring such academic degrees or similar diplomas,
even within the limits of their own four walls, shall be deprived of
such a privilege and be considered to have been so deprived if, after
the lapse of three years, they shall not have religiously obeyed for
any reason whatsoever, even beyond their control, this Our injunction.
This is Our Order, and nothing shall be suffered to gainsay it.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the 29th day of June, 1914, the
eleventh year of Our Pontificate. Pius PP. X.
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