First Newsletter (March, 2005) is now on-line

The first issue of “Tommaso d’Aquino Newsletter” (March, 2005) is now on-line here at the web site. I hope that you all like it. Don’t forget to subscribe to the web site. You can get to the Newsletter by clicking here.

People have been asking about the software that runs Thomistica.NET. I use squarespace.com as my hoster for the site; it is a wonderful and very cost effective way to have your own web site, with minimal programming knowledge needed. They have a nice referral program, too.

Tim Clark's search engine in English for the Summa theologiae

I’m getting this out now because I don’t want it to be completely upstaged by another announcment (more on that in a day or so). Tim Clark has put together a neat search engine in English of the Summa theologiae, which you can find here. The English text of the Summa is the one found on New Advent. A very nice job, and useful for one-off queries.

Web site devoted to Cornelio Fabro

(With thanks to Jörgen Vijgen). There is a very fine web site devoted to the memory and works of the great Thomist metaphysician, Cornelio Fabro. See the site at corneliofabro.org. An Opera omnia is underway, and will shortly include two of Fabro’s most influential works, La nozione metafisica di partecipazione secondo san Tommaso d’Aquino, and Participation et causalité selon s. Thomas D’Aquin.

CUA Press discount announcement

I have been working away in an effort to get my first Newsletter posted on the site, and hope to have that done by the end of this week (Holy week, 2005 [Latin rite, of course]).

I do want to share something with you right away, however, because it is time-sensitive. Early last month, at a conference at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, I spoke with the representative at Catholic University of America Press regarding their fine line-up of books that would surely be of interest to students of Thomas Aquinas. "Why not," I asked, "generously extend the conference discount of 25% to people in the Thomistica.NET community, that they might benefit from these prices?" The people at CUA Press agreed, and have provided us with an Adobe Acrobat PDF form that you can download, which contains a custom-list of Aquinas-centric books from CUA Press at 25% off. That would include Gregory Rocca’s Speaking the Incomprehensible God: Thomas Aquinas on the Interplay of Positive and Negative Theology, or Michael Sherwin’s new By Knowledge and By Love: Charity and Knowledge in the Moral Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as Jean-Pierre Torrell’s Saint Thomas Aquinas (2 vols.). For more information about the books, see the CUA Press web site.

Click here to download the PDF form onto your computer. All you need do then is to print the form up, and mail it to CUA Press. It’s that easy. The discount is in effect until April 15, 2005.

Thanks for your patience with me. I hope to have much more for you by the end of the week.

Romanus Cessario's "A Short History of Thomism"

At a recent conference at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida (web site here), I picked up a copy of Romanus Cessario, OP’s, little book, A Short History of Thomism, which had originally appeared in French. I’ve enjoyed the book so much, and feel it so useful, that I asked the kind people at Catholic University of America Press for the official blurb for the book, which follows:

New from THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS: A Short History of Thomism

Romanus Cessario, O.P.

February 2005
120 pages
Paperback ISBN 0-8132-1386-X, $19.95

Since the first followers of Saint Thomas Aquinas took up the task of explaining and defending his writings, Thomists have influenced deeply the Western intellectual tradition. Together they form a school called Thomism that can claim an uninterrupted history since the end of the thirteenth century. Using carefully selected resources, Romanus Cessario has composed a short account of the history of the Thomist tradition as it manifests itself through the more than seven hundred years that have elapsed since the death of Saint Thomas. A Short History of Thomism, originally published in French as Le Thomisme et les Thomistes, supplies a need that has not been met in over a century, and is the first such comprehensive account written in English. A preface by Ralph McInerny is included in this edition.

The author, who has worked in the field for more than thirty-five years, brings to his study an appreciation for the place that Saint Thomas Aquinas holds as a perennial teacher of Christian theology, and for the influence that the Common Doctor has exercised on all stripes of theology and philosophy.

“A very lucid and well documented introduction to seven centuries of reading Thomas Aquinas.”—Fergus Kerr, O.P., New Blackfriars

“A marked success and should be extremely useful to those just beginning to take an interest in exploring the career of Thomism after 1274.”—Timothy B. Noone, The Thomist

Romanus Cessario is Professor of Theology at Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, and Associate Editor of The Thomist. He is the author of numerous works including Introduction to Moral Theology, Christian Faith and the Theological Life, and The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics, and translator with Kevin White of John Capreolus’s On the Virtues.

TO ORDER: Please contact Hopkins Fulfillment Service, PO Box 50370, Baltimore, MD 21211 Toll free 1-800-537-5487

Two Medieval Academy fellowships to the summer Latin program at Notre Dame

The Medieval Academy of America, through the Committee on Centers and Research Associations (CARA), offers 2 summer fellowships to students studying Medieval Latin or Paleography at the University of Notre Dame. The fellowship covers tuition for one course for credit. Applicants must hold student memberships in the Medieval Academy.

Application details are available at: http://www.nd.edu/~medinst/programs/summer.html.

John Paul II talks about Aquinas in his most recent book

Passed on to me by Jörgen Vijgen (see his web site here):

Wonderful, encouraging words by our Pope! Pope John Paul II talks about Aquinas in the second chapter of his most recent book Memoria e identità (Rizzoli, Milano 2005):

IDEOLOGIE DEL MALE

Come dunque hanno avuto origine le ideologie del male? Quali sono le radici del nazismo e del comunismo? Come si è giunti alla loro caduta?

“Per meglio illustrare questo fenomeno occorre risalire al periodo anteriore all’illuminismo, in particolare alla rivoluzione operata nel pensiero filosofico da Cartesio. Il cogito, ergo sum – penso, dunque sono – portò con sé un capovolgimento nel modo di fare filosofia. Nel periodo precartesiano la filosofia, e dunque il cogito , o piuttosto il cognosco , era subordinato all’ esse che era considerato qualcosa di primordiale. A Cartesio invece l’ esse apparve secondario, mentre il cogito fu da lui giudicato primordiale. In tal modo non soltanto si operava un cambiamento di direzione nel filosofare – ma si abbandonava decisamente ciò che la filosofia era stata fino ad allora, ciò che era stata in particolare la filosofia di san Tommaso d’Aquino: la filosofia dell’ esse”. (19)

“Prima tutto veniva interpretato nell’ottica dell’ esse e di tutto si cercava una spiegazione secondo quell’ottica. Dio come Essere pienamente autosufficiente ( Ens subsistens ) era ritenuto l’indispensabile sostegno per ogni ens non subsistens, ens participatum , cioè per tutti gli esseri creati, e dunque anche per l’uomo”. (19)

“Se vogliamo parlare in modo sensato del bene e del male, dobbiamo tornare a san Tommaso d’Aquino , cioè alla filosofia dell’essere”. (23)

“Con il metodo fenomenologico, ad esempio, si possono esaminare esperienze come quella della moralità, della religione o anche dell’essere uomo, traendone un arricchimento significativo della nostra conoscenza. Non si può però dimenticare che tutte queste analisi, in modo implicito, presuppongono la realtà dell’essere uomo, cioè di un essere creato, e anche la realtà dell’Essere assoluto. Se non si parte da simili presupposti «realisti» , si finisce per muoversi nel vuoto”. (23)

Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum is back!

From Professor Elżbieta Jung (Institute of Philosophy, University of Lódz):

It is a pleasure for me to inform you that the Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum is back! It is open for contributions in history of medieval philosophy, theology and science in English, French, German and Latin and editions of medieval texts of approximately 30 printed pages (ca 54000 characters).

With best regards, Contact Person: Miss Monika Michalowska, the Secretary of MPP (monikamichalowska@o2.pl)

Mailing address:

Professor Elżbieta Jung
Editor of Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum
Director of the Department of History Premodern Philosophy
Institute of Philosophy, University of Lódz,
Ul. Kopcinskiego 16/18, 90-232 Lódz
Poland

Therese Bonin posts English translation of Quodlibet IV.9.3

Therese Bonin (of THOMAS AQUINAS IN ENGLISH: A Bibliography fame) has posted a translation of Thomas’s Quodlibet IV.9.3 (the question on theological determination using authorities or reasons) on her web site. She says:

“I’ve updated my web page a wee bit and put myself among the translators — Quodlibet 4.9.3, brief but very interesting, is now at http://www.home.duq.edu/~bonin/qq493.html You may find it useful for teaching.”

Her site is a must-visit place for on-line resources and bibliography in English.

Theology generalist at Briar Cliff University (Sioux City, Iowa, USA)

Briar Cliff University is seeking a broadly educated theologian with area of specialization in scripture. Preference will be given to candidates with competence in moral theology. Ph.D. required. Teaching experience preferred. Successful applicant will teach in the first-year experience program. Position is tenure-track and effective September 2005.

Briar Cliff University is a Roman Catholic liberal arts institution committed to Franciscan values of service, caring, and openness to all.

Review of applicants will begin immediately and will continue until position is filled. Send letter of application and CV to:

JoAnn Peterson
Human Resources
Briar Cliff University
3303 Rebecca St.
Sioux City , IA 51104

E-mail: joann.peterson@briarcliff.edu

AA/EOE

Conference on friendship in Rome (Santa Croce)

The people at the Ateneo Romano della Santa Croce have announced their 13th conference on philosophy:

THE NECESSITY OF FRIENDSHIP: “For no one would choose to live without friends” (Nicomachean Ethics VIII, 1)

Here’s the description from their web site:

The richness and power of the reflection on friendship in classical philosophy remains unparalleled in the history of philosophical thought. For Aristotle, friendship was “absolutely necessary”, to the point that “no one would choose to live without friends”; by contrast, in the postmodern age, there seems to be neither a satisfying praxis of friendship nor an equally deep philosophical reflection on it. Still, Aristotle’s legacy can be enriched by the profound modern achievements in the articulation of the being and the relations of the human subject. Indeed, thanks to the experience of everyday life as shaped over the course of modern times, friendship has come to the fore as something fundamental and decisive for personal growth; and its adaptability to highly diverse relational contexts and life-situations makes it a prime link in a multicultural and globalized society. The objective of this Conference is to seek to decipher, in a specifically philosophical way, the meaning of friendship within a fragmented society such as today’s, by bringing to light the ontology, anthropology, ethics and social theory that make this relationship a real possibility.

The Conference consists of eight presentations, leaving ample room for discussion and joint reflection in a roundtable setting at the conclusion of each day. It is hoped that these days can serve to initiate the formation of an international and interdisciplinary research network, involving experts in academic, cultural and educational fields, on the theme of “Relationships, Affections, and Reasons”.

You can find out more my going to the conference’s web site, here.

Why Thomas Aquinas' Body Spent Time in Fondi

Chapel With a Storied Past Is Undergoing Restoration

(Fondi, ITALY [Feb 2, 2005] Zenit.org): The Sancta Maria Antiqua chapel in Fondi, which once housed the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas and is undergoing restoration, has offered some unexpected historical revelations.

In the sacred enclosure, adorned with 15th-century frescoes, was kept the body of the Dominican saint between 1355 and 1368, when he had already been canonized.

The remains of the “Angelic Doctor” ended up there, thanks to the fervor of Niccolo Gaetani, a local nobleman, who spirited them away and kept them in the chapel in this town located between Rome and Naples.

The chapel with the restored frescoes belongs to an old hospital, which may have been a Benedictine or Dominican church, according to architectural findings.

So what was the saint’s body doing in that city?

Margherita Maria Rossi thinks she knows. The president of the St. Thomas Institute of the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelicum, in Rome, told ZENIT that Count Gaetani, a great admirer of the saint, took the body to his castle.

Gaetani later brought it to the chapel because, so it seems, “his mother had visions in her dreams of St. Thomas who on two occasions said that he did not like the spot where the count had placed him,” said Rossi.

The count stole the body in Fossanova, where St. Thomas died in 1274. “The news is vague, in part because it was a ‘robbery’ and, therefore, something rather secret,” explained Rossi.

Celebrations for the restoration of the chapel were held last weekend. There was a film festival, attended by Polish film director Krzystof Zanussi, as well as a festival of sacred music.

Later, there were talks by professors and experts on St. Thomas, such as the rector of the Angelicum, Dominican Father Francesco Compagnoni, and Alvaro Cacciotti, of the Order of Friars Minor, president of the College of Medieval and Franciscan Studies of the Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum.

Among the speakers at the celebratory meeting were architects, theologians, restorers, historians and communicators.

Margherita Rossi said that the discovery of this chapel is important, as it shows the great affection that people had already at that time for the saintly philosopher and theologian.

One can thus understand, she added, the way in which the “spread and re-elaboration of his thought ” took place, “which culminated with authors like Cajetan, one of his many commentators, perhaps the sharpest, who wrote wonderful commentaries on the ‘Summa Theologiae’ in the 16th century.”

Moreover, Rossi said, this event has made it possible to address “unpublished topics,” such as the “relation between historical presence and influence of a saint.”