Aeterni Patris - Effects of The Encyclical

Effects of The Encyclical

The chief aim of Aeterni Patris was the reintroduction of Thomism into Catholic educational centers for the purpose of bringing faith and reason back into a fruitful dialectic. Pope Leo XIII had recognized the detrimental effects to both society and religion when reason is privileged over faith. In an effort to promote Thomistic scholarship, Pope Leo XIII commissioned a critical edition of Aquinas’s works, referred to as the “Leonine” edition. Although Thomism had already enjoyed a half-century revival before 1879 through the writings of scholars such as Carlo Maria Curci (d. 1891), Giovanni Maria Cornoldi (d. 1892), and Tommaso Zigliara (d. 1893), Aeterni Patris heralded a renaissance of Thomism that still reverberates in modern theological and philosophical discourse.

Jesuit theologians such as Joseph Maréchal (1878–1944), Karl Rahner (1904–1984), and Bernard J. F. Lonergan (1904–1984) developed a post-Kantian Thomism sometimes called “Transcendental Thomism.” The French theologians Charles Journet (1891–1975), Jacques Maritain (1882–1973), and Étienne Gilson (1884–1978) contributed significantly to Thomistic methodology. Journet along with Maritain founded the journal Nova et Vetera and contributed to sessions at Vatican II. Gilson founded the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, Ontario. Gilson’s Being and Some Philosophers (1949) and Maritain’s The Degrees of Knowledge (1932) are still widely popular among students of Thomism. Together, Gilson and Matitain are sometimes called "existential Thomists."

French Dominicans Pierre Mandonnet (1858–1936), Marie-Dominique Chenu (1895–1990), and Yves Congar (1904–1995) explored the historical background of Thomas Aquinas and its relationship to theology. One of the best known French Dominicans of the twentieth century was Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964), who influenced generations of students during his tenure at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. These developments and contributions can be seen as a natural consequence of the aim of Aeterni Patris to bring faith and reason together in a fruitful dialectic. The spirit and thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas advocated by the encyclical has proven a valuable resource for Catholic philosophy and theology in bringing both faith and reason to bear on the problems of modern life.