Triennium Thomisticum

/

The upcoming years 2023-2025 might very well and very aptly be called Triennium Thomisticum and this for the simple reason that a number of important anniversaries for the history of Thomism will be commemorated in these years.

  • June 23, 2023: Centenary of Pius XI’s encyclical Studiorum ducem on the occasion of the 6th centenary of his canonization in 1923.

  • July 18, 2023: 7th Centenary of St. Thomas’s canonization by Pope John XXII in 1323.

  • March 7, 2024: 750th  Anniversary of his death in 1274.

  • 2025: 800th Anniversary of his birth in 1225.

Each of these anniversaries opens up numerous historical and doctrinal perspectives on the texts of St. Thomas and the subsequent history of Thomism. A recent example for instance concerns the canonization process: one only has to compare the classic piece by Gerulaitis (“The Canonization of Saint Thomas Aquinas” in Vivarium 5 (1967): 25-46), which limits itself to a statement of facts, with Tilatti’s piece (“La canonizzazione di Tommaso d’Aquino come crocevia di intenzione eterogenee” in Fra Trionfi e Sconfitti: La ‘Politica della Santintà’ dell’Ordine dei Predicatori, ed. V. Dóci – G. Festa, Roma: Angelicum University Press, 2021, 61-82), in which the author joins other voices in recent years who view the process almost entirely through the lens of power struggles originating either within the Dominican Order or Italian nobility.

It seems the Dominican province of Toulouse is taking the lead in this Triennium Thomisticum. An impressive list of activities have been announced for this period which include not only the usual conferences and congresses but also theatrical and musical compositions. For those interested in the history of Thomism, the themes of the authority and doctrinal status of St. Thomas within the Dominican Order as well the history of Thomism in France will be particularly enlightening. For more information see https://revuethomiste.fr/actu-liste/centenaire-thomas-daquin

If this impressive list is a foretaste of what to expect from other institutes all of the world in the coming years, one has to conclude: Thomists of all countries, brace yourselves!

Commemorative medal for the 6th centenary of the canonization in 1923

/ / Comment

Jörgen Vijgen

DR. JÖRGEN VIJGEN holds academic appointments in Medieval and Thomistic Philosophy at several institutions in the Netherlands. His dissertation, “The status of Eucharistic accidents ‘sine subiecto’: An Historical Trajectory up to Thomas Aquinas and selected reactions,” was written under the direction of Fr. Walter Senner, O.P. at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, Italy and published in 2013 by Akademie Verlag (now De Gruyter) in Berlin, Germany.