The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-03-27

smoothest and richest combination.
With an unbounded confidence begots
ten OF true faith, st. Thomas regarded
no knowledge foreign to his domain.
He laid under tribute ancient phi
losophers and the Christian Fathers,
and with singular discernment sift-
ing the chaff from the wheat he stored
up in one granary the pure grain of
doctrine for the convenience and nutri-
ment of all future generations. The
Greek philosophy of the peerless
of the unrivalled Augustine became,
so TO speak, hypostatically united in
the Summa Theological. Deservedly
then is Thomas entitled the Chris
tian Aristotle. The delineation of a
learned Catholic writer best portrays
the grandeur OF his great achievement
in these words: "The Cathedral Of
Cologne, that other great medieval
achievement, is the only work to
which the Summa Theological may be
properly compared. Like the Gothic
structure the Summa is vast, compli-
Gated, and yet unified in the heaven
pointing PLAN, by which vault and
arch, turret and pinnacle all conspire
to the one general effect of lifting
our thoughts from the earth beneath
us to the supernatural world above
us. Nature and Grace, reason and
faith, natural truth and revealed truth
are there articulated and subordinated
and eoordinated in such a way that
Dante had only to put it in verse to
make it a harmony in expression as
it is already intrinsically a harmony
of thought"
In the presence of such rare gran
deur, need we wonder that even with
in the very Thirteenth Century in
which he lived this glory of the
Order of St. Dominic was called by
Stephen, the Archbishop of Paris,
THE great luminary of the Catholic
Church, the precious stone of the
priesthood, the flower of doctors, and
the bright mirror Of the University of
Paris?" That he was sought after
and coveted as the most distinguished
lecturer by the great Universities of
Europe, then flourishing centers of
learning whose inspiration was derived
from their vigorous well-defined Cath
Ollie faith? That he became the at
tractive model for imitation to all
later Catholic scholars and theo-
logians, though never to be surpassed
or equalled? That Popes and Coun-
ellis wed with one another in express
ing their approval of his method and
doctrine as most conformable to the
Divine plan of Christian truth, SO
much so that Innocent VI declared
that chose who followed the doctrine
of st. Thomas never deviated from
the path of truth, and those who as
sailed it were always suspected OF
error" while the Council of Trent
laid upon the altar, beside the Holy
Bible and the Conciliar and Papal
DEGREES, the Summa for the safe
guidance of the assembled bishops
No wonder that the enemies of the
Catholic faith direct their most poi.
soned shafts against st. Thomas and
the Scholastic theology of which he is
the chief ornament, since their sophis-
tries, errors and confused opinions are
exposed and put to shame by his
clear-cut, logical and concise exposi,
ton and defence of the doctrine of
the Christian Faith; and that Leo
XIII, esteenling st. Thomas as "the
special bulwark and glory of the Cath
Ole Faith" as zone richly endowed
with human and divine science 50 .
who like the sun heated the world
with the ardor of his virtue and filled
it with the splendor Of his teaching,
so that reason borne on the wings
Of Thomas to its human height can
scarcely rise higher" enthroned him
as the Patron Of Catholic institutions
of learning, and called upon the bish-
ops of the Catholic world ito restore
the golden wisdom of st. Thomas, and
to spread it far and wide for the de-
fence and beauty of the Catholic faith,
for the good of society, and for the
advantage of all the sciences"
An Inspiration to Students.