Aeterni Patris

Aeterni Patris (English: Of the Eternal Father) was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in August 1879. It was subtitled "On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Catholic Schools in the Spirit (ad mentem) of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas". The aim of the encyclical was to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy. Introduction In August 1879, eighteen months into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIII (formerly Joachim Cardinal Pecci, bishop of Perugia), issued the encyclical letter Aeterni Patris. The aim of the encyclical was to aid and advance the restoration of Christian philosophy, which he felt had fallen into danger and disrepute by adhering to modern trends in secular philosophy, by urging a return to the scholastic thinkers of the Middle Ages, most especially the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, and the related philosophical system of Thomism. The encyclical attempts to clarify the roles of faith and philosophy, later to be covered again in John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio (On Faith and Reason), showing how most beneficially each may profit from the other. The purpose of Leo XIII was the revival of St. Thomas's philosophy and the continuing of his spirit of investigation, but not necessarily the adoption of every argument and opinion to be found in the works of the scholastics. According to the encyclical, the philosophy most conformable and useful for the faith is that of St. Thomas. The vigorous reintroduction of St. Thomas into the Catholic philosophical teaching was perceived by many as a bold and unprecedented step by the new pope. Indeed, since the French Revolution, most pontiffs had preferred to condemn the errors in contemporary philosophy, not to recommend explicitly a return to the old. The encyclical, however, was no surprise to any acquainted with Cardinal Pecci, who had for years been spearheading a Thomistic renaissance in the schools in his diocese of Perugia, leading to such theologians and philosophers as Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Etienne Gilson, and Jacques Maritain. The content of the encyclical was strongly influenced by Tommaso Maria Zigliara professor from 1870 to 1879 at the College of Saint Thomas, the future [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas|Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum]]. "Zigliara also helped prepare the great encyclicals Aeterni Patris and Rerum novarum and strongly opposed traditionalism and ontologism in favor of the moderate realism of Aquinas."