Henry of Ghent - Life

Life

Henry is supposed to have belonged to an Italian family named Bonicolli, in Dutch Goethals, but the question of his name has been much discussed (see authorities below). He studied at Ghent and then at Cologne under Albertus Magnus. After obtaining the degree of doctor he returned to Ghent, and is said to have been the first to lecture there publicly on philosophy and theology.

Attracted to Paris by the fame of the university, he took part in the many disputes between the orders and the secular priests, on the side of the latter. While Henry was a regent master at the University of Paris, the Condemnations of 1277 took place. The bishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier, promulgated a condemnation of some 219 propositions put forth by the masters of the Faculty of Theology. Henry had a hand in the creation of these propositions and because of that he was summoned to the papal legate after a fellow Augustinian, Giles of Rome. The summons was supposed to change Henry's mind concerning Thomas Aquinas and his unicity thesis which states that there is only one intellect for all human beings. Following the publication of the papal bull Ad fructus uberes by Pope Martin IV in 1281, Henry supported the secular clergy against the Mendicant Orders over the question of the 'reiteration of confession' (the obligation to confess to their parish priest, at least once a year, sins already confessed to a friar). Henry was engaged in this violent controversy for the rest of his life.