Another follow-up on Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec, OP

Thanks now to Weronika Hansen for her update:

From KUL website:

Born 25 May 1921 in Berezowica Mała in Podole. Fell asleep in the Lord while correcting the article "Christianity" 8 May 2008 in Lublin.

The coffin with the body of Fr Krąpiec will be laid in the basilica of the Dominican fathers on Thursday, 15 May at 3 pm, when the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy will be recited. A book of condolence will be set out at the same time.

The funeral ceremonies will take place 16 May 2007, beginning with a Funeral Mass at 10 am in the Basilica of the Dominican Fathers (ul. Złota 9).

We will then process solemnly to the University Church, where the Final Commendation will be made.

The body of Fr Krąpiec will be buried in the cemetery on ul. Lipowa.

(link)

[an extract, excuse the limping English, done in a hurry]

Hardly "limping English"! Thanks, Weronika.

An obituary in German on the death of Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec

Thanks to Rauhut Robert for sending along the following, regarding the death of Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec, OP:

For all those interested in Father Krapiec I refer to the obituary I wrote in German and which was published this week in the Germany daily "Die Tagespost" (link). One year ago I visited Father Krapiec and did one of the last interviews with him. The Portrait which I did out of this material is also available online (link).

Viele Grüße

Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec, OP: RIP

This just in, from Fr Lawrence Dewan, OP, who heard the news from Anna Zhyrkova at Kalamazoo: Fr Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec, OP, long-time leader of the Lublin School of Thomism—associated in the public mind most especially with Karol Wojtyla (the late pope, John Paul II)—has died. I’ll try to get more particular information as I’m able, and would be grateful for information from anybody.

Journée d'étude (May 15 2008): L’Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes

Thanks to Adriano Oliva, OP, for this information about an upcoming event in Paris. While it might be difficult for people in the USA to attend, Adriano provided the program of the event, so we can see what's going on these days in Paris, at the Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes:

Journée d'étude, jeudi 15 mai 2008
Les innovations du vocabulaire latin à la fin du moyen âge :
autour du Glossaire du latin philosophique (philosophie, théologie, sciences)

Le Glossaire du latin philosophique, un fichier d'environ 230.000 fiches consacré au vocabulaire philosophique du moyen âge, se trouve désormais à l'Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, où il est consultable à la Section latine.

A l'occasion de l'arrivée du Glossaire du latin philosophique à l'Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes et pour marquer un nouveau départ, nous organisons une journée d'étude consacrée à ce fichier, le jeudi 15 mai 2008, à l'IRHT, 40 avenue d'Iéna, 75016 Paris.

Programme:

9.00-9.30 Accueil des participants
9.30 introduction par Louis Holtz
9.40-10.20 Jacqueline Hamesse, Le « Glossaire du latin philosophique médiéval » : histoire, buts et utilization
10.20-11.00 Anne Grondeux, Parler de grammaire en philosophie : l'enrichissement du vocabulaire médiolatin de la pensée grammatical

pause

11.10-11.50 Alfonso Maierù, Sur la « suppositio vaga » au XIII^e siècle
11.50-12.30 Charles Burnett, The Enrichment of Latin philosophical vocabulary through translations from Arabic

déjeuner

14.00-14.40 Ruedi Imbach, Experiri et experiential chez Albert le Grand et Thomas d'Aquin
14.40-15.20 Monica Calma, La "rhetorica viatoris » dans les commentaires des Sentences au XIV^e siècle
15.20-16.00 Ana Gómez Rabal, Exemples de termes philosophiques dans les glossaires médiévaux et leur survivance/ oubli chez un humaniste, Michel Servet

16.15-17.30 Table ronde : discussion générale sur l'avenir du Glossaire et une éventuelle version informatisée, avec la participation de Bruno Bon, Dragos Calma, Monica Calma, Anita Guerreau, Caroline Heid, Louis Holtz, Adriano Oliva, Jacqueline Hamesse, Jean-Pierre Rothschild, Mariken Teeuwen, Olga Weijers.

Inscriptions et renseignements : aoliva@nerim.net, olgaweijers@hotmail.com

Follow-up on Fr Pinckaers

Laura Arrington at Notre Dame points out that an extensive interview was conducted with the late Fr Servais Pinckaers, OP on the Thomas Instituut of Utrecht's website (main link), in the year 2000. You can find the interview directly here (by-passing the frames of the site).

Servais Pinckaers, OP: RIP

Some terribly sad news, from Michael Sherwin, OP:

Dear Colleagues,
I just received the following note from Fr. Benoît-Dominique de La Soujeole, prior of the Albertinum:

"Fr. Pinckaers left us this evening at 2 AM to go receive the recompense of faithful servants. We were able to keep vigil at his side without interruption beginning Sunday afternoon, when his situation became grave."

Fr. de La Soujeole had taken him to the Cantonal Hospital on the Friday before Holy Week, because Fr. Pinckaers was looking more tired than usual. On Tuesday of Holy Week, he suffered an intestinal hematoma (internal bleeding). On Easter Sunday he suffered a heart attack, and had another one on Saturday, April 4^th. Throughout it all, Fr. Pinckaers maintained his good humor and a spirit of confidence in the Lord.

This is a sad day for us, but a happy day for Servais.

Pax,
P. Michael Sherwin, o.p

Pinckaers has left behind prodigious output, and a useful collection of his articles is available in English, from CUA Press.

An undergraduate book on perennial philosophy

John W. Carlson (Creighton University) has published a book for undergraduates on perennial philosophy (PDF). Here is CUA's blurb:

The Catholic University of America Press is pleased to announce publication of Understanding Our Being: Introduction to Speculative Philosophy in the Perennial Tradition by John W. Carlson.

In the encyclical Fides et ratio, Pope John Paul II called upon teachers of philosophy "to recover, in the flow of an enduringly valid philosophical tradition, the range of authentic wisdom and truth." Understanding Our Being responds to this call with a much-needed introduction to speculative philosophy.

Written as an undergraduate textbook, Understanding Our Being treats central topics about our knowledge of being, the being of the natural world, and, via the latter, being as such. It then treats the special character and implications of our human, personal being—in particular, our intellect, free choice, and reason-conditioned sociality. Finally, it considers God as Source and End of being and it discusses the "problem of evil" and the nature of religious faith.

In addition to presenting essential elements of the "perennial" philosophy, as developed in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas (especially as interpreted by Jacques Maritain and others), this book discusses contemporary challenges to the critical realist approach. These include scientism, historicism, and nihilism, as well as religious fideism. The author also encourages students to think for themselves, and he offers them resources to do so, via questions for reflection at the end of each part, a comprehensive bibliography, and a glossary of key philosophical terms.

More about the book can be found on the CUA website (link), or on Carlson's website.

Quid Analytical Thomism?

Been wanting to know more about "Analytical Thomism"? The people at Ashgate Publishing have put out a book on the subject (link), and have provided PDF files of the book's Introduction and Table of Contents. With authors such as Hilary Putnam, Anthony J. Lisska, John C. Cahalan, Stephen L. Brock, and, of course, John Haldane (plus many more), it's bound to be about as effective an overview as one can get.

Wisdom's Apprentice: Festschrift in honor of Lawrence Dewan, OP

Okay, I know that Fr Dewan was my teacher in Toronto and all, so I might be expected to pay him filial homage now and again. But the fact is that it’s a good time to be Fr Dewan. He gave the Aquinas Lecture at Marquette University in 2007, and now Catholic University has not only recently published a collection of his essays on metaphysics (Form and Being: Studies in Thomistic Metaphysics [Washington, DC: CUA Press, 2006]—link), but they have also published a Festschrift in his honor: Wisdom’s Apprentice: Thomistic Essays in Honor of Lawrence Dewan, O.P. (PDF/link). Edited by Peter Kwasniewski of Wyoming Catholic College, here is the blurb:

Lawrence Dewan, O.P., has long graced the world of Thomistic scholarship with the impressive lucidity, depth, and comprehensiveness of his research on many facets of the Angelic Doctor’s legacy. A professor at the Collège Universitaire Dominicain in Ottawa and a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas, his more than one hundred articles have brought him international renown as a foremost authority on metaphysics, natural philosophy, and ethics as well as on aspects of the work of John Capreolus, Albert the Great, Etienne Gilson, and Jacques Maritain, among others.

In Wisdom’s Apprentice, twelve distinguished scholars pay grateful homage to their friend and mentor in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the study of the philosophia perennis. Prompted by the honoree’s seventy-fifth birthday in March 2007, this volume gathers incisive essays on a variety of key topics in the Thomist tradition.

The book is divided into four parts. Part I engages fundamental metaphysical issues, Jan Aertsen writing on truth as a transcendental, Stephen Brock and David Twetten on the doctrine of being, and J. L. A. West on supposit and nature. Part II contains essays on natural theology, with Ralph McInerny and Leslie Armour posing questions on the rational basis of man’s knowledge of God and Gregory Doolan showing how deliberately Aquinas integrates divine ideas into his doctrine of God. In Part III natural philosophy comes to the fore: Christopher Decaen expounds the impossibility of action at a distance, Jude Dougherty the relationship between physics and philosophy, and Ralph Nelson the influence of Bergson on an important difference between Gilson and Maritain. The two authors of Part IV address the world of man; Kevin Flannery argues that for Aristotle no less than for Aquinas acts can be good or bad in their very species and Heather McAdam Erb unfolds Aquinas’s views on interior peace, the foretaste of eternal life.

CONTENTS

• Editor’s Introduction
• Biography of Lawrence Dewan, O.P.
• Publications of Lawrence Dewan, O.P.
• PART I. Metaphysics
  • Is Truth Not a Transcendental for Aquinas? Jan A. Aertsen
  • Thomas Aquinas and “What Actually Exists” Stephen L. Brock
  • Really Distinguishing Essence from Esse David B. Twetten
  • The Real Distinction between Supposit and Nature J.L.A. West
• PART II. Natural Theology
  • From Shadows and Images to the Truth Ralph McInerny
  • Re-thinking the Infinite Leslie Armour
  • Is Thomas’s Doctrine of Divine Ideas Thomistic? Gregory T. Doolan
• PART III. Philosophy of Nature
  • The Impossibility of Action at a Distance Christopher A. Decaen
  • Physics and Philosophy Jude P. Dougherty
  • Two Masters, Two Perspectives: Maritain and Gilson on the Philosophy of Nature Ralph Nelson
• PART IV. Ethics and Spirituality
  • Moral Taxonomy and Moral Absolutes Kevin L. Flannery, S.J.
  • Interior Peace: Inchoatio vitae aeternae Heather McAdam Erb
• Works Cited
• Contributors
• Index of Names

New CUA book of Rhonheimer’s essays

Catholic University of America Press has published a collection of Fr Martin Rhonheimer's essays, entitled The Perspective of the Acting Person: Essays in the Renewal of Thomistic Moral Philosophy (link/PDF). The volume was edited by William F. Murphy, Jr., of the Pontifical College Josephinum. Here's the blurb, thanks to CUA Press:

The Perspective of the Acting Person introduces readers to one of the most important and provocative thinkers in contemporary moral philosophy. In this collection of essays Martin Rhonheimer examines the central themes of natural law, moral action, and virtue emphasized by John Paul II's 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor. Rhonheimer's work follows the general direction taken by the encyclical through an almost unprecedented rigor of philosophical argumentation and level of engagement with both European and American scholarship.

Rhonheimer argues extensively, from the texts of Aquinas, against aspects of more traditional interpretations of the Angelic Doctor. He maintains that their deficiencies helped precipitate both the postconciliar crisis in moral theology and the rise of revisionist approaches. He addresses not only the central topics of natural law and moral action but also the reasonableness of Christian morality, the relation between nature and reason, and that between metaphysics and ethics. All are considered from the distinctively moral perspective of the agent. Rhonheimer also responds to critics of both Veritatis Splendor and his own work and critiques works by revisionist moral theologians.

The collection focuses on Rhonheimer's fundamental ethical theory, establishing the theoretical bases for his more applied works in areas such as sexual ethics, political philosophy, social ethics, and medical ethics. A detailed introduction by William F. Murphy, Jr., sketches Rhonheimer's intellectual biography and the development of his thought, and summarizes key content from the essays. Finally, a detailed bibliography of Rhonheimer's work is included, which further enhances the volume's value to moral philosophers and theologians.

CONTENTS

• Introduction by William F. Murphy Jr.
• Is Christian Morality Reasonable? On the Difference between Secular and Christian Humanism
• Norm-Ethics, Moral Rationality, and the Virtues: What's Wrong with Consequentialism?
• "Intrinsically Evil Acts" and the Moral Viewpoint: Clarifying a Central Teaching of Veritatis Splendor
• Intentional Actions and the Meaning of Object: A Reply to Richard McCormick
• Practical Reason and the "Naturally Rational": On the Doctrine of the Natural Law as a Principle of Praxis in Thomas Aquinas
• The Moral Significance of Pre-Rational Nature in Aquinas: A Reply to Jean Porter (and Stanley Hauerwas)
• The Cognitive Structure of the Natural Law and the Truth of Subjectivity
• The Perspective of the Acting Person and the Nature of Practical Reason: The "Object of the Human Act" in Thomistic Anthropology of Action
• Practical Reason and the Truth of Subjectivity: The Self-Experience of the Moral Subject at the Roots of Metaphysics and Anthropology
• Review of Jean Porter's Nature as Reason: A Thomistic Theory of the Natural Law
• Bibliography
• Index

The Martyred Inquisitor

Life can be full of coincidences. A couple weeks back, just in time for Palm Sunday, I scooted out of Milwaukee to Paris to work at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), trying to make some headway on my Paul of Hungary, OP, project (I’ll post more about that on my personal blog soon). It was a wonderful and intense five days.

My daily trip to the BnF took me from the Dominican convent at St. Jacques (home to the Saulchoir and the Leonine Commission) through the Ile de la Cité, along the Louvre, and then up to the old BnF (58, rue de Richelieu). Most afternoons I hiked back down to Notre Dame for a visit, and then caught the bus back to the convent. On Palm Sunday I was an outright tourist, and went to Sainte-Chapelle, and over to the Louvre—which I hadn’t gone to since the late-1970’s. Inside, among the many, many precious and informative objects, I came across a painting of St. Peter Martyr, OP, which I promptly snapped.

Today I was finally organizing the pictures I took while at Paris when it struck me: today is the day in the liturgical calendar when St. Peter of Verona suffered martyrdom (the Saturday following Easter, in the year 1252). I know this because of my reading of Donald Prudlo’s The Martyred Inquisitor: The Life and Cult of Peter of Verona (†1252) (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007) (link), which presents the first full modern biography of Peter’s life, death, and cult. If you’ve seen pictures of key Dominicans in European painting, you’ve seen pictures of Peter (usually with a split, bleeding head—he was killed by blows to the head with a farmer’s tool). Peter was the Dominican Order’s first martyr, his cult was encouraged throughout the Order, and Thomas Aquinas would surely have known about, and participated, in his cult.

The Ashgate website has a few PDF files you can download, key among which is Prudlo’s helpful Introduction to the work.

Principe on Aquinas’s Spirituality

One of my teachers in Toronto, Walter Principe, C.S.B., had a long-standing interesting in St Thomas's "spirituality," worked on this topic, and published on it, until the very end of his life, in 1996.

Isn't life interesting? Another one of my other teachers, James Weisheipl, OP, wrote an article once insisting that St Thomas had no spirituality, to his credit!

Anyway, a nice overview of Fr Principe's thinking on Thomas's spirituality can be found on-line, on the Spirituality Today website. The article is entitled "Aquinas' Spirituality for Christ's Faithful Living in the World," Spirituality Today 44/2 (1992): 110-131 (link).