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The Allocution of Pope Pius XII on the Fourth Centenary of the Gregorianum

1954; St. Bonaventure University; Volume: 14; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/frc.1954.0010

1945-9718

The Editors,

Catholicism and Religious Studies

THE ALLOCUTION OF POPE PIUS XII ON THE FOURTH CENTENARY OF THE GREGORIANUM In 1551 Saint Ignatius Loyola opened a small school of humanities at the foot of the CapitoUum, giving it the name of the Roman College. In the following year he founded the German CoUege to house northern youths who were preparing for the priesthood in the Roman College. That same year Pope Julius III authorized the school to bestow academic degrees, courses for which were inaugurated in 1553. The school grew rapidly, counting a thousand students in 1567; and in 1584 moved to new bmldings erected for it by Pope Gregory XIII. In his memory it was later called the Gregorian University. Though staffed by the Jesuits, it was always a Pontifical institute, and thus escaped the suppression of the Society. Restored to the Jesuits in 1824, it has continued to grow both in students and in the number of its faculties, so that it now includes an Institute of Social Studies, a faculty of church history and missiology, the Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Institute of Oriental Studies, in addition to the regular courses of phüosophy and theology. As it celebrated its fourth centenary in 1953, it could proudly point to 2400 students, diocesan and religious, from fifty eight different countries. The climax of the centennial celebrations was a solemn audience which Pope Pius XII graciously granted on October 17 to the academic body, pupils, and alumni. On this occasion the Holy Father pronounced an allocution which not only praised the past traditions of the University but also set up several important norms for Catholic teaching. Since the words of His Holiness confirm the position taken by Father Franz Pelster, S. J., in an article recently published in Franciscan Studies, the Editors feel that some sections of the allocution will be of great interest to our readers. The official Latin text of the Allocution is contained in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 45 (1953), 682—690. The English text presented here is adapted from an EngUsh translation graciously furnished by the NCWC News Service; it has no official character. The Editors scholastic method Laudamus scholasticam metho-We praise the scholastic method dum, quae apud vos in usu versatur;in use among you; nor are We quam alibi haud raro negligi et con-unaware that elsewhere it is often temni Nos minime latet. Ut ii ab istaneglected and looked down upon, incuria vel despicatione désistant,That those who so act may desist meminerint Summos Pontífices huius-from such neglect and contempt, let modi methodum saepe commendasse,them remember that the Supreme 204 Allocution 205 quin etiam hortatos esse, ut ea in philosophicis et theologicis scholis in honore semper haberetar. Id, quod scholastica methodus assequi contenait, ut scilicet hominis ratio revelatas a Deo veritates et earum phüosophica adiumenta perlustret , expoliendo illas quae eis insunt notiones et afferendo argumenta , quibus eorum certitado soUde fulcitar; utque praeterea quae contra disputantar resolvat, et veritates omnes tum naturales metaphysicas tum divinitus revelatas concorditer apteque componere conetur: hoc semper fuit et est philosophiae et theologiae certum firmumque propositam . Neque opinandum est mysteria fidei et eorum supposita phüosophica ab unoquoque ita comparai! posse, ut facile vel ultro ab intellectu hostro obtineantar, neque opus esse, ut diuturno studio et apta methodo ratiocinando et meditando pertractentur . Neve timueritis, ne ob stadia spectativi generis illae quae "positivae " scientiae nuncupantar et praecipue theologia "positiva" aliquid detrimenti capiant. Inter utrasque enim nulla oppositio, quin etiam illae eo securius prodeunt, quo firmius hisce superstruuntur. Exemplo sunto vobis ipse Doctor Angelicus, qui "positivaram" cognitionum appetens erat, et ex primaevi Athenaei vestri theologis Franciscus Suarez, qui iure post Sanctum Thomam primoribus sacrae theologiae cultoribus accensendus est, recens autem — saltem unum memoria repetere fas Nobis sit — Ioannes Baptista Cardinalis Franzelin, qui utriusque ordinis disciplinis diligentissimum tribuit cultum easdemque mirabili modo in unum coniunxit . . . Pontiffs have often recommended such a method, and indeed have exhorted that it be always held in honor in philosophical and theological schools. What the scholastic method seeks to attain has alwaysbeen and is the firm and certain goal of philosophy and theology, namely that human reason thoroughly examine the truths revealed by God and their...