Friday, June 14, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog:
Salvation, Psalms 116:10-16, Second Corinthians 4:7-15, Matthew 5:27-32, Pope Francis Daily Homily - The Dialogue of Salvation, St. Joseph the Hymnographer, Studium Generale Medieval Universities, Catholic Catechism Part Three: Life In Christ Section 1 The Dignity of the Human Person Article 4:2 Morality - Good and evil Acts and In Brief
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. The Seven Gifts of
the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe (fear of the
Lord) , counsel, knowledge, fortitude, and piety (reverence) and shun
the seven Deadly sins: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and
gluttony...Its your choice whether to embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit rising towards eternal light or succumb to the Seven deadly sins and lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to the Darkness, Purgatory or Heaven is our Soul...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...~ Zarya Parx 2013
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Prayers for Today: Friday in Ordinary Time
Rosary - Sorrowful Mysteries
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis June 14 General Audience Address :
The Dialogue of Salvation
(2013-06-14 Vatican Radio)
The only way truly to receive the gift of salvation in Christ is with
sincerity to recognize oneself as weak and sinful, and to avoid any form
of self-justification. This was the focus of Pope Francis’ remarks at
Mass Friday morning in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
Aware of being a weak vessel of clay, yet the guardian of a great treasure that was given to him in a totally free way: this is the follower of Christ before the Lord. Pope Francis took the point of reflection from the day’s readings, specifically from the 2nd Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, which explains that the "extraordinary power" of faith is God's work, that it has been poured out into sinful men, into "earthen vessels", in fact. Nevertheless, explained Pope Francis, it is precisely from the relationship "between the grace and power of Jesus Christ" and ourselves, poor sinners as we are, that "the dialogue of salvation" springs. This dialogue, moreover, must avoid any "self-justification", and be between God and “ourselves as we are.”:
“Paul has spoken many times - it's like a refrain, no? - of his sins. 'But I tell you this: I've been a persecutor of the Church, I pursued ...' it always comes back to his memory of sin. He feels sinful. – but even then he does not say: 'I was [a sinner], but now I am holy', no. Even now, a thorn of Satan in my flesh. He shows us his own weakness, his own sin. He is a sinner who accepts Jesus Christ, who dialogues with Jesus Christ.”
The key, says Pope Francis, is therefore humility. Paul himself proves it. He publicly acknowledges "his track record of service," i.e. all he had done as an Apostle of Jesus, but he does not hide or gloss over what the Pope calls "his handbook", i.e. his sins:
"This is the model of humility for us priests – for us priests, too. If we only pride ourselves on our [service record] and nothing more, we end up [going] wrong. We cannot proclaim Jesus Christ the Saviour because we do not feel Him [present and at work] deep down. We have to be humble, but with real humility, [from head to toe]: 'I am a sinner for this, for this, for this', as Paul did: 'I persecuted the Church, " - as he did, [recognizing ourselves] concrete sinners: not sinners with that [kind of ] humility, which seems more a put-on face, no? Oh no, strong humility. "
"The humility of the priest, the humility of a Christian is concrete," said Pope Francis, for which, therefore, if a Christian fails, "to make this confession to himself and to the Church, then something is wrong," and the first thing to fail will be our ability "understand the beauty of salvation that Jesus brings us."
"Brothers, we have a treasure: that of Jesus Christ the Saviour. The Cross of Jesus Christ, this treasure of which we pride ourselves - but we have it in a clay vessel. Let us vaunt also our ‘handbook’ of our sins. Thus is the dialogue Christian and Catholic: concrete, because the salvation of Jesus Christ is concrete. Jesus Christ has not saved us with an idea, an intellectual program, no. He saved with His flesh, with the concreteness of flesh. He is lowered, made man, made flesh until the end. This is a gift that we can only understand, only receive, in earthen vessels. "
The Samaritan woman, as well, who met Jesus and after speaking to him told her countrymen first of her sin and then about having met the Lord, behaved in a similar way to Paul. "I believe,” said Pope Francis, “that this woman is in heaven, sure," because, as [the Italian author Alessandro] Manzoni once said, 'I have never found that the Lord began a miracle without finishing it well' and this miracle that He began definitely ended well in heaven." The Pope concluded saying, let us ask her, "to help us to be vessels of clay in order to carry and understand the glorious mystery of Jesus Christ."
Aware of being a weak vessel of clay, yet the guardian of a great treasure that was given to him in a totally free way: this is the follower of Christ before the Lord. Pope Francis took the point of reflection from the day’s readings, specifically from the 2nd Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, which explains that the "extraordinary power" of faith is God's work, that it has been poured out into sinful men, into "earthen vessels", in fact. Nevertheless, explained Pope Francis, it is precisely from the relationship "between the grace and power of Jesus Christ" and ourselves, poor sinners as we are, that "the dialogue of salvation" springs. This dialogue, moreover, must avoid any "self-justification", and be between God and “ourselves as we are.”:
“Paul has spoken many times - it's like a refrain, no? - of his sins. 'But I tell you this: I've been a persecutor of the Church, I pursued ...' it always comes back to his memory of sin. He feels sinful. – but even then he does not say: 'I was [a sinner], but now I am holy', no. Even now, a thorn of Satan in my flesh. He shows us his own weakness, his own sin. He is a sinner who accepts Jesus Christ, who dialogues with Jesus Christ.”
The key, says Pope Francis, is therefore humility. Paul himself proves it. He publicly acknowledges "his track record of service," i.e. all he had done as an Apostle of Jesus, but he does not hide or gloss over what the Pope calls "his handbook", i.e. his sins:
"This is the model of humility for us priests – for us priests, too. If we only pride ourselves on our [service record] and nothing more, we end up [going] wrong. We cannot proclaim Jesus Christ the Saviour because we do not feel Him [present and at work] deep down. We have to be humble, but with real humility, [from head to toe]: 'I am a sinner for this, for this, for this', as Paul did: 'I persecuted the Church, " - as he did, [recognizing ourselves] concrete sinners: not sinners with that [kind of ] humility, which seems more a put-on face, no? Oh no, strong humility. "
"The humility of the priest, the humility of a Christian is concrete," said Pope Francis, for which, therefore, if a Christian fails, "to make this confession to himself and to the Church, then something is wrong," and the first thing to fail will be our ability "understand the beauty of salvation that Jesus brings us."
"Brothers, we have a treasure: that of Jesus Christ the Saviour. The Cross of Jesus Christ, this treasure of which we pride ourselves - but we have it in a clay vessel. Let us vaunt also our ‘handbook’ of our sins. Thus is the dialogue Christian and Catholic: concrete, because the salvation of Jesus Christ is concrete. Jesus Christ has not saved us with an idea, an intellectual program, no. He saved with His flesh, with the concreteness of flesh. He is lowered, made man, made flesh until the end. This is a gift that we can only understand, only receive, in earthen vessels. "
The Samaritan woman, as well, who met Jesus and after speaking to him told her countrymen first of her sin and then about having met the Lord, behaved in a similar way to Paul. "I believe,” said Pope Francis, “that this woman is in heaven, sure," because, as [the Italian author Alessandro] Manzoni once said, 'I have never found that the Lord began a miracle without finishing it well' and this miracle that He began definitely ended well in heaven." The Pope concluded saying, let us ask her, "to help us to be vessels of clay in order to carry and understand the glorious mystery of Jesus Christ."
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Liturgical Celebrations to be presided over by Pope: Summer
Vatican City, Summer2013 (VIS)
Following is the calendar of celebrations scheduled to be presided over by the Holy Father for the Summer of 2013:
JUNE
16 June, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 10:30am, Mass for “Evangelium Vitae” Day in St. Peter's Square.
29 Saturday, Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul: 9:30am, Mass and imposition of the pallium upon new metropolitans in the papal chapel.
JULY
June 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children, in this restless time, anew I am calling you to set out after my Son - to follow Him. I know of the pain, suffering and difficulties, but in my Son you will find rest; in Him you will find peace and salvation. My children, do not forget that my Son redeemed you by His Cross and enabled you, anew, to be children of God; to be able to, anew, call the Heavenly Father, "Father". To be worthy of the Father, love and forgive, because your Father is love and forgiveness. Pray and fast, because that is the way to your purification, it is the way of coming to know and becoming cognizant of the Heavenly Father. When you become cognizant of the Father, you will comprehend that He is all you need. I, as a mother, desire my children to be in a community of one single people where the Word of God is listened to and carried out.* Therefore, my children, set out after my Son. Be one with Him. Be God's children. Love your shepherds as my Son loved them when He called them to serve you. Thank you." *Our Lady said this resolutely and with emphasis.
May 25, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World:“Dear children! Today I call you to be strong and resolute in faith and prayer, until your prayers are so strong so as to open the Heart of my beloved Son Jesus. Pray little children, pray without ceasing until your heart opens to God’s love. I am with you and I intercede for all of you and I pray for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Following is the calendar of celebrations scheduled to be presided over by the Holy Father for the Summer of 2013:
JUNE
16 June, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 10:30am, Mass for “Evangelium Vitae” Day in St. Peter's Square.
29 Saturday, Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul: 9:30am, Mass and imposition of the pallium upon new metropolitans in the papal chapel.
JULY
The Prefecture of the Papal Household has released Pope Francis' agenda
for the summer period, from July through to the end of August. Briefing
journalists, Holy See Press Office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi
confirmed that the Pope will remain 'based ' at the Casa Santa Marta
residence in Vatican City State for the duration of the summer.
As per tradition, all private and special audiences are suspended for the duration of the summer. The Holy Father's private Masses with employees will end July 7 and resume in September. The Wednesday general audiences are suspended for the month of July to resume August 7 at the Vatican.
7 July, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 9:30am, Mass with seminarians and novices in the Vatican Basilica.
14 July Sunday , Pope Francis will lead the Angelus prayer from the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo.
Pope Francis will travel to Brazil for the 28th World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro from Monday July 22 to Monday July 29.
As per tradition, all private and special audiences are suspended for the duration of the summer. The Holy Father's private Masses with employees will end July 7 and resume in September. The Wednesday general audiences are suspended for the month of July to resume August 7 at the Vatican.
7 July, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 9:30am, Mass with seminarians and novices in the Vatican Basilica.
14 July Sunday , Pope Francis will lead the Angelus prayer from the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo.
Pope Francis will travel to Brazil for the 28th World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro from Monday July 22 to Monday July 29.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 06/14/2013.
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June 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children, in this restless time, anew I am calling you to set out after my Son - to follow Him. I know of the pain, suffering and difficulties, but in my Son you will find rest; in Him you will find peace and salvation. My children, do not forget that my Son redeemed you by His Cross and enabled you, anew, to be children of God; to be able to, anew, call the Heavenly Father, "Father". To be worthy of the Father, love and forgive, because your Father is love and forgiveness. Pray and fast, because that is the way to your purification, it is the way of coming to know and becoming cognizant of the Heavenly Father. When you become cognizant of the Father, you will comprehend that He is all you need. I, as a mother, desire my children to be in a community of one single people where the Word of God is listened to and carried out.* Therefore, my children, set out after my Son. Be one with Him. Be God's children. Love your shepherds as my Son loved them when He called them to serve you. Thank you." *Our Lady said this resolutely and with emphasis.
May 25, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World:“Dear children! Today I call you to be strong and resolute in faith and prayer, until your prayers are so strong so as to open the Heart of my beloved Son Jesus. Pray little children, pray without ceasing until your heart opens to God’s love. I am with you and I intercede for all of you and I pray for your conversion. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
May 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children; Anew, I am calling you to love and not to judge. My Son, according to the will of the Heavenly Father, was among you to show you the way of salvation, to save you and not to judge you. If you desire to follow my Son, you will not judge but love like your Heavenly Father loves you. And when it is the most difficult for you, when you are falling under the weight of the cross do not despair, do not judge, instead remember that you are loved and praise the Heavenly Father because of His love. My children, do not deviate from the way on which I am leading you. Do not recklessly walk into perdition. May prayer and fasting strengthen you so that you can live as the Heavenly Father would desire; that you may be my apostles of faith and love; that your life may bless those whom you meet; that you may be one with the Heavenly Father and my Son. My children, that is the only truth, the truth that leads to your conversion, and then to the conversion of all those whom you meet - those who have not come to know my Son - all those who do not know what it means to love. My children, my Son gave you a gift of the shepherds. Take good care of them. Pray for them. Thank you."
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Today's Word: salvation sal·va·tion [sal-vey-shuh
n]
Origin: 1175–1225; Middle English salvatio ( u ) n < Late Latin salvātiōn- (stem of salvātiō ), equivalent to salvāt ( us ) (past participle of salvāre to save1 ; see -ate1 ) + -iōn- -ion; replacing Middle English sa ( u ) vaciun, sauvacion < Old French sauvacion < Late Latin,
noun
1. the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2. the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
3. a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
4. Theology . deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 116:10-18
10 My trust does not fail even when I say, 'I am completely wretched.'
11 In my terror I said, 'No human being can be relied on.'
15 Costly in Yahweh's sight is the death of his faithful.
16 I beg you, Yahweh! I am your servant, I am your servant and my mother was your servant; you have undone my fetters.
17 I shall offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of Yahweh.
18 I shall fulfil my vows to Yahweh, witnessed by all his people,
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Today's Epistle - Second Corinthians 4:7-15
7 But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God's and not our own.
8 We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair;
9 we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us;
10 always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body.
11 Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.
12 In us, then, death is at work; in you, life.
13 But as we have the same spirit of faith as is described in scripture -- I believed and therefore I spoke -we, too, believe and therefore we, too, speak,
14 realising that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up with Jesus in our turn, and bring us to himself -- and you as well.
15 You see, everything is for your benefit, so that as grace spreads, so, to the glory of God, thanksgiving may also overflow among more and more people.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Matthew 5:27-32
Jesus said to
his disciples: 'You have heard how it was said, You shall not commit
adultery. But I say this to you, if a man looks at a woman
lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his
heart. If your right eye should be your downfall, tear it
out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose
one part of yourself than to have your whole body thrown into
hell. And if your right hand should be your downfall, cut it off and
throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part
of yourself than to have your whole body go to hell. 'It has
also been said, Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a
writ of dismissal. But I say this to you, everyone who
divorces his wife, except for the case of an illicit marriage, makes her
an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.'
Reflection
• In yesterday’s Gospel,
Jesus made a rereading of the commandments: “Do not kill” (Mt
5, 20-26). In today’s Gospel Jesus rereads the commandment “You shall not commit adultery”. Jesus
rereads the law starting from the intention that God had,
which was proclaimed centuries before on Mount Sinai. He seeks
the spirit of the Law and does not close himself up in the
letter. He takes up again and defends the great values of
human life which constitute the background of each one of these Ten
Commandments. He insists on love, on fidelity, on mercy, on
justice, on truth, on humanity (Mt 9,13; 12,7; 23,23; Mt 5,10;
5,20; Lc 11,42; 18,9). The result of the full observance of
the Law of God humanizes the person. In Jesus we can see what
happens when a person allows God to fill his life. The last objective
is that of uniting both loves, the building up of fraternity in
defence of life. The greater the fraternity, the greater will
be the fullness of life and greater will be the adoration
given by all creatures to God, Creator and Saviour.
• In today’s Gospel,
Jesus looks closely at the relationship man-woman in marriage,
fundamental basis of human living together. There was a
commandment which said: “Do not commit adultery”, and another
one which said: “Anyone who divorces his wife, has to give her a
certificate of divorce”. Jesus takes up again both commandments,
giving them a new meaning.
• Matthew 5, 27-28: Do not commit adultery. What
does this commandment require from us? The ancient response
was: man cannot sleep with somebody else’s wife. This was demanded by
the letter of the commandment. But Jesus goes beyond,
surpasses the letter and says: “But I say to you, if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart”.
The objective of the commandment is reciprocal fidelity between man and woman who assume life together, as a married couple. And this fidelity will be complete only if both will know how to be faithful to one another in thought and in the desire and, will know how to reach a total transparency between them.
• Matthew 5, 29-30: Tear out your eye and cut off your hand. To
illustrate what Jesus has just said, he states a hard word of
which he serves himself on another occasion when he spoke of the
scandal to little ones (Mt 18, 9 e Mc 9, 47). He says: If your right
eye should be your downfall tear it out and throw it away:
for it will do you less harm to lose one part of yourself than
to have to have your whole body thrown into hell”. And he
affirms the same thing concerning the hand. These affirmations
cannot be taken literally. They indicate the radical nature and the
seriousness with which Jesus insists on the observance of this
commandment.
• Matthew 5, 31-32: The question of divorce. Man
was permitted to give a certificate of divorce to the woman.
In the discourse of the community, Jesus will say that Moses permitted
this because the people were hard hearted (Mt 19, 8). “But
I say to you: anyone who divorces his wife, give her a
certificate of divorce; but I say to you: anyone who
divorces his wife, except in the case of concubinage, exposes her to
adultery and anyone who marries a divorced woman , commits
adultery”. There has been much discussion on this theme.
Basing itself on this affirmation of Jesus, the Oriental
Church permits divorce in case of “fornication”, that is of
infidelity. Others say that here the word fornication is the translation
of an Aramaic or Hebrew word zenuth which indicated a
valid marriage among people who were relatives, and which was
forbidden. It would not be a valid marriage.
• Leaving aside the
correct interpretation of this word, what is important is to
see the objective and the general sense of the affirmation of
Jesus in the new reading which is done of the Ten
Commandments. Jesus speaks about an ideal which should always be before
my eyes. The definitive ideal is: “to be perfect as the
Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5, 48). This ideal is valid
for all the commandments reviewed by Jesus. In the rereading
of the commandment “Do not commit adultery”, this ideal is
translated as transparency and honesty between husband and wife. Even
more, nobody can say: “I am perfect as the Heavenly Father is
perfect”. We will always be below the measure. We can never
merit the reward because we will always be below the measure.
What is important is to continue walking on the road, turn our
look toward the ideal, always! But at the same time, as Jesus
did, we have to accept persons with the same mercy with which he
accepted persons and directed them toward the ideal. This is
why, certain juridical exigencies of the Church today, for
example, not to permit communion to those divorced persons
living a second marriage, seem to be more in agreement with
the attitude of the Pharisees than with that of Jesus. Nobody applies
literally the explanation of the commandment “Do not kill”,
where Jesus says that anyone who says idiot to his
brother deserves hell (Mt 5, 22). Because if it was like that
we would all have the entrance into hell guaranteed and nobody
would be saved. Why does our doctrine use different measures in the
case of the fifth and the ninth commandments?
Personal questions
• Do you succeed in living honesty and transparency totally with persons of the other sex?
• How is this to be understood: “to be perfect like the Heavenly Father is perfect?”
• How is this to be understood: “to be perfect like the Heavenly Father is perfect?”
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: St Joseph the Hymnographer
Feast Day: June 14
Patron Saint: n/a
Attributes: n/a
Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (Gr. Όσιος Ιωσήφ ο Υμνογράφος)
was a monk of the ninth century. He is one of the greatest liturgical
poets and hymnographers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is also known for his confession of the Orthodox Faith in opposition to Iconoclasm. He is called "the sweet-voiced nightingale of the Church".
He was born around 810 AD in Sicily of devout parents, Plotinus and Agatha. After the death of his parents, Joseph had to flee Sicily due to an Arab invasion. He moved to Thessalonica where at the age of fifteen he was tonsured a monk at the monastery of Latmus, where he distinguished himself in humility and asceticism. The bishop of Thessalonica ordained him a Hieromonk (priest monk). While visiting Thessalonica the distinguished Gregory of Decapolis was so impressed with Joseph, because of his rare character, that he invited him to join his monastery of the Studium in Constantinople.
With the resurgence of Iconoclasm in 841 under Leo V, the Armenian, Joseph was sent to Rome to call upon Pope Leo III and the Roman Church to help in the battle for orthodoxy. While en route, Joseph was captured by Arab pirates and taken as a slave to Crete where the Iconoclasts detained him in prison for six years. Early in the morning on Christmas Day, 820, in the sixth year of Joseph's imprisonment, the Emperor Leo was slain in church while attending Matins. At that same moment, according to tradition, St. Nicholas appeared to Joseph in prison and asked him to sing in the name of God. Nicholas then said to him: "Arise and follow me!" Joseph found himself immediately transported to the gates of Constantinople. According to some accounts, however, after his escape from Crete he resumed his journey to Rome, where he was received with great kindness, and only then returned to Constantinople.
There he founded a monastery dedicated to his mentor, Gregory of Decapolis, in connection with the church of St. John Chrysostom, where he continued his ascetic labors and attracted followers. When Gregory of Decapolis died around 820, Joseph transferred his relics, together with those of another of his disciples named John, and placed them in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. He also continued to oppose Iconoclasm, and the Emperor Theophilus exiled him to the Chersonese for eleven years. But the Empress Theodora (who herself was an Iconodule) recalled him in 842. But he was exiled again after denouncing Caesar Bardas, brother of the Empress, for illicit cohabitation. Joseph returned again to Constantinople in 867 after Bardas' death.
Through the favour of the Patriarch Ignatius I, he was appointed Skevophylax (keeper of the sacred vessels—i.e., the official responsible for the building containing the treasure of the church) in the Great Church of Constantinople. Joseph also stood high in the favor of Patriarch Photius the Great, the rival and successor of Ignatius, and accompanied Photius into banishment. He was among those who inspired the first missionaries to Russia.
He reportedly possessed the "gift of discernment" because of which Photius appointed him the spiritual father and confessor for priests, recommending him as, "A man of God, an angel in the flesh and father of fathers." He died peacefully in great old age on the eve of Holy and Great Thursday in either 883 or 886 AD.
Joseph's Vita prima was written in 890 by John the Deacon of the Great Church.
His feast day is celebrated on April 3 among the Eastern Christians and on June 14 in the Roman Catholic Church.
It is often difficult to distinguish his work from that of Joseph of Thessalonica, sometimes called Joseph of the Studium. The dates for both are approximately the same. Joseph of the Studium was the bishop of Thessalonika and the brother of Theodore the Studite. Both are cited as great liturgical poets.
His hymns are still sung, not only by Eastern Christians, but by Western Christians as well. A number of his hymns have been adapted into popular Protestant hymns.
The following is a selection of Hymns by Joseph:
 |
| Saint Joseph the Hymnographer |
He was born around 810 AD in Sicily of devout parents, Plotinus and Agatha. After the death of his parents, Joseph had to flee Sicily due to an Arab invasion. He moved to Thessalonica where at the age of fifteen he was tonsured a monk at the monastery of Latmus, where he distinguished himself in humility and asceticism. The bishop of Thessalonica ordained him a Hieromonk (priest monk). While visiting Thessalonica the distinguished Gregory of Decapolis was so impressed with Joseph, because of his rare character, that he invited him to join his monastery of the Studium in Constantinople.
With the resurgence of Iconoclasm in 841 under Leo V, the Armenian, Joseph was sent to Rome to call upon Pope Leo III and the Roman Church to help in the battle for orthodoxy. While en route, Joseph was captured by Arab pirates and taken as a slave to Crete where the Iconoclasts detained him in prison for six years. Early in the morning on Christmas Day, 820, in the sixth year of Joseph's imprisonment, the Emperor Leo was slain in church while attending Matins. At that same moment, according to tradition, St. Nicholas appeared to Joseph in prison and asked him to sing in the name of God. Nicholas then said to him: "Arise and follow me!" Joseph found himself immediately transported to the gates of Constantinople. According to some accounts, however, after his escape from Crete he resumed his journey to Rome, where he was received with great kindness, and only then returned to Constantinople.
There he founded a monastery dedicated to his mentor, Gregory of Decapolis, in connection with the church of St. John Chrysostom, where he continued his ascetic labors and attracted followers. When Gregory of Decapolis died around 820, Joseph transferred his relics, together with those of another of his disciples named John, and placed them in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. He also continued to oppose Iconoclasm, and the Emperor Theophilus exiled him to the Chersonese for eleven years. But the Empress Theodora (who herself was an Iconodule) recalled him in 842. But he was exiled again after denouncing Caesar Bardas, brother of the Empress, for illicit cohabitation. Joseph returned again to Constantinople in 867 after Bardas' death.
Through the favour of the Patriarch Ignatius I, he was appointed Skevophylax (keeper of the sacred vessels—i.e., the official responsible for the building containing the treasure of the church) in the Great Church of Constantinople. Joseph also stood high in the favor of Patriarch Photius the Great, the rival and successor of Ignatius, and accompanied Photius into banishment. He was among those who inspired the first missionaries to Russia.
He reportedly possessed the "gift of discernment" because of which Photius appointed him the spiritual father and confessor for priests, recommending him as, "A man of God, an angel in the flesh and father of fathers." He died peacefully in great old age on the eve of Holy and Great Thursday in either 883 or 886 AD.
Joseph's Vita prima was written in 890 by John the Deacon of the Great Church.
His feast day is celebrated on April 3 among the Eastern Christians and on June 14 in the Roman Catholic Church.
Works
Joseph composed numerous canons and hymns for many saints, and is credited with approximately 1,000 works. The melismatic canons of the Menaion are primarily his work; they bear his name in the acrostic of the Ninth Ode. He also composed most of the hymns in the liturgical book known as the Paracletike, which complements the Octoechos.It is often difficult to distinguish his work from that of Joseph of Thessalonica, sometimes called Joseph of the Studium. The dates for both are approximately the same. Joseph of the Studium was the bishop of Thessalonika and the brother of Theodore the Studite. Both are cited as great liturgical poets.
His hymns are still sung, not only by Eastern Christians, but by Western Christians as well. A number of his hymns have been adapted into popular Protestant hymns.
The following is a selection of Hymns by Joseph:
- Let Us Now Our Voices Raise
- Stars of the Morning
- And Wilt Thou Pardon, Lord
- O Happy Band of Pilgrims (by John M. Neale, based on words by Joseph the Hymnographer)
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Today's Snippet I: Studium Generale - Medieval Universities
The first institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, Spain and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries for the study of arts, law, medicine, and theology.[1] These universities evolved from much older Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools, and it is difficult to define the date at which they became true universities, although the lists of studia generalia for higher education in Europe held by the Vatican are a useful guide.
"The word universitas originally applied only to the scholastic guild (or guilds)—that is, the corporation of students and masters—within the studium, and it was always modified, as universitas magistrorum, or universitas scholarium, or universitas magistrorum et scholarium. In the course of time, however, probably toward the latter part of the 14th century, the term began to be used by itself, with the exclusive meaning of a self-regulating community of teachers and scholars whose corporate existence had been recognized and sanctioned by civil or ecclesiastical authority."[2]
Antecedents
The university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting.[4][5] Prior to the establishment of universities, European higher education took place for hundreds of years in Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools (Scholae monasticae), in which monks and nuns taught classes; evidence of these immediate forerunners of the later university at many places dates back to the 6th century AD.[6]With the increasing growth and urbanization of European society during the 12th and 13th centuries, a demand grew for professional clergy. Before the 12th century, the intellectual life of Western Europe had been largely relegated to monasteries, which were mostly concerned with performing the liturgy and prayer; relatively few monasteries could boast true intellectuals. Following the Gregorian Reform's emphasis on canon law and the study of the sacraments, bishops formed cathedral schools to train the clergy in Canon law, but also in the more secular aspects of religious administration, including logic and disputation for use in preaching and theological discussion, and accounting to more effectively control finances. Learning became essential to advancing in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and teachers also gained prestige. However, demand quickly outstripped the capacity of cathedral schools, each of which was essentially run by one teacher. In addition, tensions rose between the students of cathedral schools and burghers in smaller towns. As a result cathedral schools migrated to large cities, like Paris and Bologna.
Some scholars such as Syed Farid Alatas have noted some parallels between Madrasahs and early European colleges and have thus inferred that the first universities in Europe were influenced by the Madrasahs in Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily.[7] Other scholars such as George Makdisi, Toby Huff and Norman Daniel, however, have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the "Islamic college" (madrasa) versus the European university.[8][9][10]
Establishment
In the course of the 13th century, the term gradually acquired a more precise (but still unofficial) meaning as a place that (1) received students from all places, (2) that it taught not only the Arts, but had at least one of the higher faculties (that is, Theology, Law or Medicine) and (3) that a significant part of the teaching was done by Masters.[2]A fourth criterion slowly appeared, namely that a Master who had taught and was registered in the Guild of Masters of a Studium Generale was entitled to teach in any other Studium without further examination. This privilege, known as jus ubique docendi, was, by custom, reserved only to the Masters of the three oldest universities—Salerno, Bologna and Paris. Their reputation was so great that its graduates and teachers were welcome to teach in all other Studia, but themselves accepted no outside teachers without an examination.
This lock by was picked by Pope Gregory IX, who seeking to elevate the prestige of the papal-sponsored University of Toulouse which he had founded in 1229, issued a bull in 1233 automatically authorizing Masters of Toulouse to teach in any Studium without an examination. It consequently became customary for Studia generalia, eager to elevate themselves, to apply for similar bulls. The older universities at first disdained requesting such privileges themselves, feeling their reputation was sufficient. But Bologna and Paris eventually stooped down to apply for them too, receiving their papal bulls in 1292.[3]
Arguably the most coveted feature of the papal bulls was the special exemption (instituted by Pope Honorius III in 1219) that allowed teachers and students to continue reaping the fruits of any clerical benefices they might have elsewhere. This dispensed them from the residency requirements set out in Canon Law.[4] As this privilege was granted only to those in Studia generalia, certainly routinely by the 14th century, it began to be considered by many to be not only another (fifth) criterion, but the single semi-official definition of a "Studium generale" - that is, that a school which did not have that privilege, would not be considered "generale". (although the old universities of Oxford and Padua, who resisted asking for a papal bull, had sufficient reputation to be referred to as Studium generale title without it; nonetheless, Oxford masters were not allowed to teach in Paris without examination; Oxford reciprocated by demanding examinations from Paris masters, ignoring the papal privileges Paris enjoyed.)
Finally, the pope could issue bulls guaranteeing the autonomy of the university from the interference of local civil or diocesal authorities (a process begun with the issuing of the 1231 bull for the University of Paris). Although not a necessary criteria, it became customary to bestow the "privileges of Paris" to other Studia generalia.
The Pope was not the only supplier of these privileges. The Holy Roman Emperor also issued imperial charters granting much the same privileges - starting with the University of Naples in 1224.
These criteria - universal student body, one or more higher faculties, teaching by masters, the right to teach in other Studia, retention of benefices, autonomy - are common features found in most Medieval Studia generale (with some notable exceptions). In other respects, e.g. structure, administration, curriculum, etc., Studia generale varied. Generally speaking, most Studia generalia tended to copy one of two old models: the student-centered system of Bologna or the master-centered structure of Paris.
History
Most of the early studia generalia were found in Italy, France, England, Spain and Portugal, and these were considered the most prestigious places of learning in Europe. The Vatican continues to designate many new universities as studia generalia, although the popular significance of this honour has declined over the centuries.As early as the 13th century, scholars from a studium generale were encouraged to give lecture courses at other institutes across Europe and to share documents, and this led to the current academic culture seen in modern European universities.
The universities generally considered as studia generalia in the 13th century were:
- University of Bologna
- University of Paris
- University of Oxford
- University of Cambridge
- University of Montpellier
- University of Salamanca
- University of Arezzo
- Complutense University (founded in Alcalá de Henares on May 20, 1293)
- University of Modena
- University of Siena
- University of Vicenza
- University of Salerno (uncertain)
- University of Coimbra (founded in Lisbon in 1290)
Universities officially recognized as studia generalia in the first part of the 14th century were several, among these:
- Sapienza University of Rome (founded on 1303)
- University of Perugia (founded on 1308)
- University of Florence (founded on 1321)
- Charles University in Prague (founded on 1348)
Studium particulare
The University of Paris was formally recognized when Pope Gregory IX issued the bull Parens scientiarum (1231).[13] This was a revolutionary step: studium generale (university) and universitas (corporation of students or teachers) existed even before, but after the issuing of the bull, they attained autonomy. "[T]he papal bull of 1233, which stipulated that anyone admitted to be a teacher in Toulouse had the right to teach everywhere without further examinations (ius ubique docendi),
in time, transformed this privilege into the single most important
defining characteristic of the university and made it the symbol of its
institutional autonomy . . . By the year 1292, even the two oldest
universities, Bologna and Paris, felt the need to seek similar bulls
from Pope Nicholas IV."[13]
By the 13th century, almost half of the highest offices in the Church were occupied by degreed masters (abbots, archbishops, cardinals), and over one-third of the second-highest offices were occupied by masters. In addition, some of the greatest theologians of the High Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas and Robert Grosseteste, were products of the medieval university.
The development of the medieval university coincided with the widespread reintroduction of Aristotle from Byzantine and Arab scholars. In fact, the European university put Aristotelian and other natural science texts at the center of its curriculum,[15] with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendent."[16]
Although it has been assumed that the universities went into decline during the Renaissance because the scholastic and Aristotelian emphasis of its curriculum was less popular than the cultural studies of Renaissance humanism, Toby Huff has noted the continued importance of the European universities, with their focus on Aristotle and other scientific and philosophical texts, into the early modern period, arguing that they played a crucial role in the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. As he puts it "Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Newton were all extraordinary products of the apparently procrustean and allegedly Scholastic universities of Europe....sociological and historical accounts of the role of the university as an institutional locus for science and as an incubator of scientific thought and arguments have been vastly understated."[17]
Diagrams, in a volume of treatises on natural science, philosophy, and mathematics. This 1300 manuscript is typical of the sort of book owned by medieval university students.
Initially medieval universities did not have physical facilities such as the campus
of a modern university. Classes were taught wherever space was
available, such as churches and homes. A university was not a physical
space but a collection of individuals banded together as a universitas. Soon, however, universities began to rent, buy or construct buildings specifically for the purposes of teaching.[18]
Universities were generally structured along three types, depending on who paid the teachers. The first type was in Bologna, where students hired and paid for the teachers. The second type was in Paris, where teachers were paid by the church. Oxford and Cambridge were predominantly supported by the crown and the state, a fact which helped them survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 and the subsequent removal of all the principal Catholic institutions in England. These structural differences created other characteristics. At the Bologna university the students ran everything—a fact that often put teachers under great pressure and disadvantage. In Paris, teachers ran the school; thus Paris became the premiere spot for teachers from all over Europe. Also, in Paris the main subject matter was theology, so control of the qualifications awarded was in the hands of an external authority - the Chancellor of the diocese. In Bologna, where students chose more secular studies, the main subject was law.
A university class, (1350s).
University studies took six years for a Master of Arts degree (a Bachelor of Arts degree could be awarded along the way). The studies for this were organized by the faculty of arts, where the seven liberal arts were taught: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic, and rhetoric.[19][20] All instruction was given in Latin and students were expected to be able to converse in that language.[21] The trivium
comprised the three subjects that were taught first: grammar, logic,
and rhetoric. These three subjectes were the most important of the seven
liberal arts for medieval students.[22] The curriculum came also to include the three Aristotelian philosophies: physics, metaphysics and moral philosophy.[23]
A popular textbook for university study was called the Sentences (Quattuor libri sententiarum) of Peter Lombard; theology students and masters were required to write extensive commentaries on this text as part of their curriculum. Much of medieval thought in philosophy and theology can be found in scholastic textual commentary because scholasticism was such a popular method of teaching. Aelius Donatus' Ars grammatica was the standard textbook for grammar; also studied were the works of Priscian and Graecismus by Eberhard of Béthune.[24] Cicero's works were used for the study of rhetoric.[25] Studied books on logic included Porphyry's introduction to Aristotelian logic, Gilbert de la Porrée's De sex principiis and Summulae Logicales by Petrus Hispanus (later Pope John XXI).[26] The standard work of astronomy wasTractatus de sphaera. [27]
Once a Master of Arts degree had been conferred, the student could leave the university or pursue further studies in one of the higher faculties, law, medicine, or theology, the last one being the most prestigious. Studies in the higher faculties could take up to twelve years for a master's degree or doctorate (initially the two were synonymous), though again a bachelor's and a licentiate's degree could be awarded along the way.[28]
Courses were offered according to books, not by subject or theme. For example a course might be on a book by Aristotle, or a book from the Bible. Courses were not elective: the course offerings were set, and everyone had to take the same courses. There were, however, occasional choices as to which teacher to use.[29]
Students often entered the University at fourteen to fifteen years of age, though many were older.[30] Classes usually started at 5:00 or 6:00 AM.
Most universities in Europe were recognised by the Holy See as a Studium Generale, testified by a papal bull. Members of these institutions were encouraged to disseminate their knowledge across Europe, often lecturing at a different Studium Generale. Indeed, one of the privileges the papal bull confirmed was the right to confer the Ius ubique docendi, the right to teach everywhere.[32]
From the early modern period onwards, this Western-style organizational form gradually spread from the medieval Latin west across the globe, eventually replacing all other higher-learning institutions and becoming the preeminent model for higher education everywhere.[3]
The University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) was a famous university in Paris,
France, and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was
founded in the middle of the 12th century and was officially recognized
as a university from between 1160 and 1250 approximately.
After many changes, including a century of suspension (from 1793 to 1896), it was devided in thirteen autonomous universities in 1970. The university is often referred to as the Sorbonne or la Sorbonne, after the collegiate institution (Collège de Sorbonne) founded around 1257 by Robert de Sorbon, a French theologian, the chaplain of Louis IX of France. Sorbon began to teach around 1253 and in 1257 established the Maison de Sorbonne, a college in Paris originally intended to teach theology to twenty poor students. It was sponsored by King Louis and received the endorsement of Pope Alexander IV in 1259. It subsequently grew into a major centre of learning and became the core of what would become the University of Paris. Sorbon served as chancellor of the university, taught and preached there from 1258 until his death in 1274. Although the university was never completely centered on the Sorbonne. Of the thirteen current successor universities, four have premises in the historical Sorbonne building, and three of them include "Sorbonne" in their names.
The faculty and nation system of the University of Paris (along with that of the University of Bologna) became the model for all later medieval universities. Under the governance of the Church, students wore robes and shaved the tops of their heads in tonsure, to signify they were under the protection of the church. Students operated according to the rules and laws of the Church and were not subject to the king's laws or courts. This presented ongoing problems of students abusing the laws of the city, which had no direct recourse for justice and had to appeal to Church courts. Students were often very young, entering the school at age 13 or 14 and staying for 6 to 12 years.
In 1200, King Philip II issued a diploma "for the security of the scholars of Paris" that made the students subject only to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The provost and other officers were forbidden to arrest a student for any offence, unless this was done to hand over the culprit to ecclesiastical authority. The king's officers could never lay hands on the head of the schools unless they had a mandate from an ecclesiastical authority. This action was motivated at least in part by a violent incident between students and officers outside the city walls at a pub.
In 1215, the Apostolic legate, Robert de Courçon, issued new rules governing who could become a professor. To teach the arts it was necessary to have reached the age of twenty-one, to have studied these arts at least six years, and to take an engagement as professor for at least two years. For a chair in theology the candidate had to be thirty years of age with eight years of theological studies, of which the last three years were devoted to special courses of lectures in preparation for the mastership. These studies had to be made in the local schools under the direction of a master, for at Paris one was not regarded as a scholar unless he had a particular master. Lastly, purity of morals was as important as reading. The licence was granted, according to custom, gratuitously, without oath or condition. Masters and students were permitted to unite, even by oath, in defence of their rights, when they could not otherwise obtain justice in serious matters. No mention is made either of law or of medicine, probably because these sciences were less prominent. Priscian's "Grammar", Aristotle's "Dialectics", mathematics, astronomy, music, rhetoric and philosophy were taught in the arts course; to these might be added the Ethics of the Stagyrite and the fourth book of the Topics. But it was forbidden to read the books of Aristotle on Metaphysics and Physics, or abbreviations of them
In 1229, a student riot at the University of Paris resulted in the deaths of a number of students, and the ensuing "dispersion" or student strike in protest lasted more than two years and led to a number of reforms of the medieval university. The event demonstrates the "town and gown" power struggles between the Church, secular leaders and the emerging student class, as well as a lessening of local Church authority over the university, which was placed squarely under direct papal patronage, part of the program to centralize Church structure that had intensified under Innocent III.
Students were often very young, entering the school at age 13 or 14 and staying for 6 to 12 years.They were from many regions speaking many European languages with all defined by their native language. Latin was the lingua franca at school. Eventually the Masters were organized into four "nations" comprising the French, the Picards, Normans and a polyglot of nationalities (predominantly English, German, Scandinavian and Eastern European) referred to as "English. The overwhelming majority of students were from the elite or aristocratic classes of Europe as the cost of travel and maintenance of a stay at the university, as well as basic tuition, was beyond the reach of the poor.
Because students had benefit of clergy that exempted them from the jurisdiction of the king's courts, angry complaints were filed with the ecclesiastical (Church) courts. The ecclesiastical courts knew that the University tended to be very protective of its students, and fearing to cause a split like that of Cambridge University from Oxford, they were trying to approach the matter carefully. But Blanche of Castile, regent of France during the minority of Louis IX, stepped in and demanded retribution. The university authorized the city guard to punish the student rioters. The city guardsmen, known for their rough nature, found a group of students and, with an unexpectedly heavy hand, killed several of them. The dead students were later rumored to be innocent of the actual riot.
After two years of negotiations, Pope Gregory IX, an alumnus of Paris himself, on April 13, 1231 issued the Bull Parens scientiarum, honoring the University as the "Mother of Sciences", which retrospectively has been called the Magna Carta of the University of Paris, because it guaranteed the school independence from local authority, whether ecclesiastical or secular, placing it directly under Papal patronage. The threat of suspension of lectures remained an economic lever: masters were authorized to "disperse" the lectures over a wide range of provocations, which ranged from "monstrous injury or offense" to "the right to assess the rents of lodgings".
Hastings Rashdall.
Hastings Rashdall (1858–1924) was an English philosopher, theologian, and historian. He expounded a theory known as ideal utilitarianism, and is a major historian of the universities of the Middle Ages.[1]
Son of an Anglican priest, he was educated at Harrow and received a scholarship for New College, Oxford. After short tenures at St David's University College and University College, Durham, Rashdall was made a Fellow of New College, Oxford, and dedicates his main work, The Theory of Good and Evil, to the memory of his teachers Thomas Hill Green and Henry Sidgwick.
The dedication is appropriate, for the particular version of utilitarianism put forward by Rashdall owes elements to both Green and Sidgwick.[2] Whereas he holds that the concepts of good and value are logically prior to that of right, he gives right a more than instrumental significance. His idea of good owes more to Green than to the hedonistic utilitarians. "The ideal of human life is not the mere juxtaposition of distinct goods, but a whole in which each good is made different by the presence of others." Rashdall has been eclipsed as a moral philosopher by G. E. Moore, who advocated similar views in his earlier work Principia Ethica. Rashdall was also a Berkeleyan, believing in metaphysical idealism.
His historical study, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, was described in the introduction to its recent reprinting as "one of the first comparative works on the subject" whose "scope and breadth has assured its place as a key work in intellectual history."
He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1904 to 1907, a member of the Christian Social Union from its inception in 1890, and was an influential Anglican modernist theologian of the time, being appointed to a canonry in 1909.
He was Dean of Carlisle from 1917 to 1924, and died of cancer in Worthing in 1924.
Pope Gregory IX (Latin: Gregorius PP. IX, Italian: Gregorio IX; c. 1145/70 – 22 August 1241), born Ugolino di Conti, was the head of the Catholic Church from 19 March 1227 to his death in 1241. He is known for instituting the Papal Inquisition, a mechanism that severely punished people accused of heresy, in response to the failures of the episcopal inquisitions established during the time of Pope Lucius III through his papal bull Ad abolendam issued in 1184.
This pope, being a remarkably skillful and learned lawyer, caused to be prepared Nova Compilatio decretalium, which was promulgated in numerous copies in 1234. (It was first printed at Mainz in 1473). This New Compilation of Decretals was the culmination of a long process of systematising the mass of pronouncements that had accumulated since the Early Middle Ages, a process that had been under way since the first half of the 12th century and had come to fruition in the Decretum compiled and edited by the papally-commissioned legist Gratian and published in 1140. The supplement completed the work, which provided the foundation for papal legal theory.
Gregory's Bull Parens scientiarum of 1231, after the University of Paris strike of 1229 resolved differences between the unruly university scholars of Paris and the local authorities, who had precipitated this crisis by high-handed actions. His solution was in the manner of a true follower of Innocent III: he issued what in retrospect has been viewed as the magna carta of the University, assuming direct control by extending papal patronage: his Bull allowed future suspension of lectures over a flexible range of provocations, from "monstrous injury or offense" to squabbles over "the right to assess the rents of lodgings".
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By the 13th century, almost half of the highest offices in the Church were occupied by degreed masters (abbots, archbishops, cardinals), and over one-third of the second-highest offices were occupied by masters. In addition, some of the greatest theologians of the High Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas and Robert Grosseteste, were products of the medieval university.
The development of the medieval university coincided with the widespread reintroduction of Aristotle from Byzantine and Arab scholars. In fact, the European university put Aristotelian and other natural science texts at the center of its curriculum,[15] with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendent."[16]
Although it has been assumed that the universities went into decline during the Renaissance because the scholastic and Aristotelian emphasis of its curriculum was less popular than the cultural studies of Renaissance humanism, Toby Huff has noted the continued importance of the European universities, with their focus on Aristotle and other scientific and philosophical texts, into the early modern period, arguing that they played a crucial role in the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. As he puts it "Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Newton were all extraordinary products of the apparently procrustean and allegedly Scholastic universities of Europe....sociological and historical accounts of the role of the university as an institutional locus for science and as an incubator of scientific thought and arguments have been vastly understated."[17]
Characteristics
Universities were generally structured along three types, depending on who paid the teachers. The first type was in Bologna, where students hired and paid for the teachers. The second type was in Paris, where teachers were paid by the church. Oxford and Cambridge were predominantly supported by the crown and the state, a fact which helped them survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 and the subsequent removal of all the principal Catholic institutions in England. These structural differences created other characteristics. At the Bologna university the students ran everything—a fact that often put teachers under great pressure and disadvantage. In Paris, teachers ran the school; thus Paris became the premiere spot for teachers from all over Europe. Also, in Paris the main subject matter was theology, so control of the qualifications awarded was in the hands of an external authority - the Chancellor of the diocese. In Bologna, where students chose more secular studies, the main subject was law.
Course of study
A popular textbook for university study was called the Sentences (Quattuor libri sententiarum) of Peter Lombard; theology students and masters were required to write extensive commentaries on this text as part of their curriculum. Much of medieval thought in philosophy and theology can be found in scholastic textual commentary because scholasticism was such a popular method of teaching. Aelius Donatus' Ars grammatica was the standard textbook for grammar; also studied were the works of Priscian and Graecismus by Eberhard of Béthune.[24] Cicero's works were used for the study of rhetoric.[25] Studied books on logic included Porphyry's introduction to Aristotelian logic, Gilbert de la Porrée's De sex principiis and Summulae Logicales by Petrus Hispanus (later Pope John XXI).[26] The standard work of astronomy wasTractatus de sphaera. [27]
Once a Master of Arts degree had been conferred, the student could leave the university or pursue further studies in one of the higher faculties, law, medicine, or theology, the last one being the most prestigious. Studies in the higher faculties could take up to twelve years for a master's degree or doctorate (initially the two were synonymous), though again a bachelor's and a licentiate's degree could be awarded along the way.[28]
Courses were offered according to books, not by subject or theme. For example a course might be on a book by Aristotle, or a book from the Bible. Courses were not elective: the course offerings were set, and everyone had to take the same courses. There were, however, occasional choices as to which teacher to use.[29]
Students often entered the University at fourteen to fifteen years of age, though many were older.[30] Classes usually started at 5:00 or 6:00 AM.
Legal status
Students were afforded the legal protection of the clergy. In this way no one was allowed to physically harm them; they could only be tried for crimes in an Ecclesiastical court, and were thus immune from any corporal punishment. This gave students free rein in urban environments to break secular laws with impunity, a fact which produced many abuses: theft, rape and murder were not uncommon among students who did not face serious consequences.[31] This led to uneasy tensions with secular authorities. Students would sometimes "strike" by leaving a city and not returning for years. This happened at the University of Paris strike of 1229 after a riot (started by the students) left a number of students dead; the University went on strike and they did not return for two years. As the students had the legal status of clerics which, according to the Canon Law, could not be held by women, women were not admitted into universities.Most universities in Europe were recognised by the Holy See as a Studium Generale, testified by a papal bull. Members of these institutions were encouraged to disseminate their knowledge across Europe, often lecturing at a different Studium Generale. Indeed, one of the privileges the papal bull confirmed was the right to confer the Ius ubique docendi, the right to teach everywhere.[32]
From the early modern period onwards, this Western-style organizational form gradually spread from the medieval Latin west across the globe, eventually replacing all other higher-learning institutions and becoming the preeminent model for higher education everywhere.[3]
University of Paris strike of 1229
 |
| University of Paris |
After many changes, including a century of suspension (from 1793 to 1896), it was devided in thirteen autonomous universities in 1970. The university is often referred to as the Sorbonne or la Sorbonne, after the collegiate institution (Collège de Sorbonne) founded around 1257 by Robert de Sorbon, a French theologian, the chaplain of Louis IX of France. Sorbon began to teach around 1253 and in 1257 established the Maison de Sorbonne, a college in Paris originally intended to teach theology to twenty poor students. It was sponsored by King Louis and received the endorsement of Pope Alexander IV in 1259. It subsequently grew into a major centre of learning and became the core of what would become the University of Paris. Sorbon served as chancellor of the university, taught and preached there from 1258 until his death in 1274. Although the university was never completely centered on the Sorbonne. Of the thirteen current successor universities, four have premises in the historical Sorbonne building, and three of them include "Sorbonne" in their names.
The faculty and nation system of the University of Paris (along with that of the University of Bologna) became the model for all later medieval universities. Under the governance of the Church, students wore robes and shaved the tops of their heads in tonsure, to signify they were under the protection of the church. Students operated according to the rules and laws of the Church and were not subject to the king's laws or courts. This presented ongoing problems of students abusing the laws of the city, which had no direct recourse for justice and had to appeal to Church courts. Students were often very young, entering the school at age 13 or 14 and staying for 6 to 12 years.
In 1200, King Philip II issued a diploma "for the security of the scholars of Paris" that made the students subject only to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The provost and other officers were forbidden to arrest a student for any offence, unless this was done to hand over the culprit to ecclesiastical authority. The king's officers could never lay hands on the head of the schools unless they had a mandate from an ecclesiastical authority. This action was motivated at least in part by a violent incident between students and officers outside the city walls at a pub.
In 1215, the Apostolic legate, Robert de Courçon, issued new rules governing who could become a professor. To teach the arts it was necessary to have reached the age of twenty-one, to have studied these arts at least six years, and to take an engagement as professor for at least two years. For a chair in theology the candidate had to be thirty years of age with eight years of theological studies, of which the last three years were devoted to special courses of lectures in preparation for the mastership. These studies had to be made in the local schools under the direction of a master, for at Paris one was not regarded as a scholar unless he had a particular master. Lastly, purity of morals was as important as reading. The licence was granted, according to custom, gratuitously, without oath or condition. Masters and students were permitted to unite, even by oath, in defence of their rights, when they could not otherwise obtain justice in serious matters. No mention is made either of law or of medicine, probably because these sciences were less prominent. Priscian's "Grammar", Aristotle's "Dialectics", mathematics, astronomy, music, rhetoric and philosophy were taught in the arts course; to these might be added the Ethics of the Stagyrite and the fourth book of the Topics. But it was forbidden to read the books of Aristotle on Metaphysics and Physics, or abbreviations of them
In 1229, a student riot at the University of Paris resulted in the deaths of a number of students, and the ensuing "dispersion" or student strike in protest lasted more than two years and led to a number of reforms of the medieval university. The event demonstrates the "town and gown" power struggles between the Church, secular leaders and the emerging student class, as well as a lessening of local Church authority over the university, which was placed squarely under direct papal patronage, part of the program to centralize Church structure that had intensified under Innocent III.
Background
The University of Paris was one of the first universities in Europe and considered the most prestigious because of its focus on the "Queen" of science: theology. It was founded in the mid-12th century and received its official charter from the Church in 1200. It was run by the Church and students were considered part of the Church and thus wore robes and shaved the tops of their heads in tonsure, to signify they were under its protection. Students operated according to the rules and laws of the Church and were not subject to the king's laws or courts. This presented ongoing problems of students abusing the laws of the city, which had no direct recourse for justice and had to appeal to Church courts.Students were often very young, entering the school at age 13 or 14 and staying for 6 to 12 years.They were from many regions speaking many European languages with all defined by their native language. Latin was the lingua franca at school. Eventually the Masters were organized into four "nations" comprising the French, the Picards, Normans and a polyglot of nationalities (predominantly English, German, Scandinavian and Eastern European) referred to as "English. The overwhelming majority of students were from the elite or aristocratic classes of Europe as the cost of travel and maintenance of a stay at the university, as well as basic tuition, was beyond the reach of the poor.
The riot
In March 1229, on Shrove Tuesday, Paris's pre-Lenten carnival began. This was similar to the modern-day Mardi Gras where one wore masks and generally let loose. The students often drank heavily and were rowdy, and in the suburban quarter of Saint Marcel a dispute broke out between a band of students and a tavern proprietor over a bill which led to a physical fight. The students were beaten up and thrown into the streets. The next day, seeking revenge, the students returned in larger numbers armed with wooden clubs, broke into the tavern, beat the offenders and destroyed the establishment. Other shops were damaged in a subsequent riot which spilled into the streets.Because students had benefit of clergy that exempted them from the jurisdiction of the king's courts, angry complaints were filed with the ecclesiastical (Church) courts. The ecclesiastical courts knew that the University tended to be very protective of its students, and fearing to cause a split like that of Cambridge University from Oxford, they were trying to approach the matter carefully. But Blanche of Castile, regent of France during the minority of Louis IX, stepped in and demanded retribution. The university authorized the city guard to punish the student rioters. The city guardsmen, known for their rough nature, found a group of students and, with an unexpectedly heavy hand, killed several of them. The dead students were later rumored to be innocent of the actual riot.
The strike
The response from the university was to immediately go on strike. Classes were closed and striking students either went to other universities such as Reims, Oxford or Toulouse, returned home or found employment elsewhere. Faculty ceased to teach. An economic strain was placed upon the student quarter of Paris, the Latin Quarter, where the lingua franca, Latin, was commonly heard in the streets, and where the needs of the university were a major ingredient in the economy.After two years of negotiations, Pope Gregory IX, an alumnus of Paris himself, on April 13, 1231 issued the Bull Parens scientiarum, honoring the University as the "Mother of Sciences", which retrospectively has been called the Magna Carta of the University of Paris, because it guaranteed the school independence from local authority, whether ecclesiastical or secular, placing it directly under Papal patronage. The threat of suspension of lectures remained an economic lever: masters were authorized to "disperse" the lectures over a wide range of provocations, which ranged from "monstrous injury or offense" to "the right to assess the rents of lodgings".
Hastings Rashdall
Son of an Anglican priest, he was educated at Harrow and received a scholarship for New College, Oxford. After short tenures at St David's University College and University College, Durham, Rashdall was made a Fellow of New College, Oxford, and dedicates his main work, The Theory of Good and Evil, to the memory of his teachers Thomas Hill Green and Henry Sidgwick.
The dedication is appropriate, for the particular version of utilitarianism put forward by Rashdall owes elements to both Green and Sidgwick.[2] Whereas he holds that the concepts of good and value are logically prior to that of right, he gives right a more than instrumental significance. His idea of good owes more to Green than to the hedonistic utilitarians. "The ideal of human life is not the mere juxtaposition of distinct goods, but a whole in which each good is made different by the presence of others." Rashdall has been eclipsed as a moral philosopher by G. E. Moore, who advocated similar views in his earlier work Principia Ethica. Rashdall was also a Berkeleyan, believing in metaphysical idealism.
His historical study, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, was described in the introduction to its recent reprinting as "one of the first comparative works on the subject" whose "scope and breadth has assured its place as a key work in intellectual history."
He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1904 to 1907, a member of the Christian Social Union from its inception in 1890, and was an influential Anglican modernist theologian of the time, being appointed to a canonry in 1909.
He was Dean of Carlisle from 1917 to 1924, and died of cancer in Worthing in 1924.
Pope Gregory IX
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| Pope Gregory IX |
This pope, being a remarkably skillful and learned lawyer, caused to be prepared Nova Compilatio decretalium, which was promulgated in numerous copies in 1234. (It was first printed at Mainz in 1473). This New Compilation of Decretals was the culmination of a long process of systematising the mass of pronouncements that had accumulated since the Early Middle Ages, a process that had been under way since the first half of the 12th century and had come to fruition in the Decretum compiled and edited by the papally-commissioned legist Gratian and published in 1140. The supplement completed the work, which provided the foundation for papal legal theory.
Gregory's Bull Parens scientiarum of 1231, after the University of Paris strike of 1229 resolved differences between the unruly university scholars of Paris and the local authorities, who had precipitated this crisis by high-handed actions. His solution was in the manner of a true follower of Innocent III: he issued what in retrospect has been viewed as the magna carta of the University, assuming direct control by extending papal patronage: his Bull allowed future suspension of lectures over a flexible range of provocations, from "monstrous injury or offense" to squabbles over "the right to assess the rents of lodgings".
References
- Cobban, Alan B. English University Life in the Middle Ages Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8142-0826-6
- Ferruolo, Stephen: The Origins of the University: The Schools of Paris and their Critics, 1100-1215 Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8047-1266-2
- Haskins, Charles Homer:. The Rise of Universities. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-87968-379-1
- Rashdall, Hastings, rev. by F. M. Powicke, and A. B. Emden: The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895; 1987, ISBN 0-19-821431-6
- Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de (ed.): A History of the University in Europe. Vol. I: Universities in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-36105-2
- Rait, Robert S.: Life in the Medieval University, Cambridge University Press, 1931, ISBN 0-527-73650-3
- Pedersen, Olaf, The First Universities: Studium Generale and the Origins of University Education in Europe, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Seybolt, Robert Francis, trans.: The Manuale Scholarium: An Original Account of Life in the Mediaeval University, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1921
- Thorndike, Lynn, trans. and ed.: University Records and Life in the Middle Ages, New York: Columbia University Press, 1975, ISBN 0-393-09216-X
Notes
- ^ de Ridder-Symoens 1992, pp. 47–55
- ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica: History of Education. The development of the universities.
- ^ Rüegg, Walter (ed.): Geschichte der Universität in Europa, 3 vols., C.H. Beck, München 1993, ISBN 3-406-36956-1
- ^ Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-36105-2, pp. XIX–XX
- ^ Verger 1999
- ^ Riché, Pierre (1978): "Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: From the Sixth through the Eighth Century", Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, ISBN 0-87249-376-8, pp. 126-7, 282-98
- ^ Alatas, S. F. (2006), "From Jami`ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue", Current Sociology 54 (1): 112–132 [123–4], doi:10.1177/0011392106058837
- ^ George Makdisi: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", in: Studia Islamica, Vol. 32 (1970), S. 255-264 (264):
Thus the university, as a form of social organization, was peculiar to medieval Europe. Later, it was exported to all parts of the world, including the Muslim East; and it has remained with us down to the present day. But back in the middle ages, outside of Europe, there was nothing anything quite like it anywhere.
- ^ The scholarship on these differences is summarized in Toby Huff, Rise of early modern science, 2nd ed. p. 149-159; p. 179-189.
- ^ Norman Daniel: Review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1984), pp. 586-588 (587)
- ^ Pryds, Darleen (2000), "Studia as Royal Offices: Mediterranean Universities of Medieval Europe", in Courtenay, William J.; Miethke, Jürgen; Priest, David B., Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society, Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance 10, Leiden: Brill, p. 83, ISBN 90-04-11351-7, ISSN 0926-6070, "In his magisterial work on European universities, Hastings Rashdall [considered that] the integrity of a university is preserved only when the institution evolved into an internally regulated corporation of scholars, be they students or masters."
- ^ Rashdall, Hastings (1895), The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 17–18, retrieved February 2012, "The University was originally a scholastic Guild, whether of Masters or Students. Such Guilds sprang into existence, like other Guilds, without any express authorisation of King, Pope, Prince, or Prelate. They were spontaneous products of the instinct of association which swept like a great wave over the towns of Europe in the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries."
- ^ Kemal Gürüz, Quality Assurance in a Globalized Higher Education Environment: An Historical Perspective, Istanbul, 2007, p. 5
- ^ Pryds, Darleen (2000), "Studia as Royal Offices: Mediterranean Universities of Medieval Europe", in Courtenay, William J.; Miethke, Jürgen; Priest, David B., Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society, Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance 10, Leiden: Brill, pp. 83–99, ISBN 90-04-11351-7, ISSN 0926-6070
- ^ Toby Huff, Rise of early modern science 2nd ed. p. 180-181
- ^ Edward Grant, "Science in the Medieval University", in James M. Kittleson and Pamela J. Transue, ed., Rebirth, Reform and Resilience: Universities in Transition, 1300-1700, Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1984, p. 68
- ^ Toby Huff, Rise of Early Modern science, 2nd ed., p. 344.
- ^ A. Giesysztor, Part II, Chapter 4, page 136: University Buildings, in A History of the University In Europe, Volume I: Universities in the Middle Ages, W. Ruegg (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 1992.
- ^ H. Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, 3 Volumes, F.M. Powicke, A.B. Emden (Eds. of 2nd Edition), Oxford University Press, 1936.
- ^ G. Leff and J. North, Chapter 10: The Faculty of Arts, in A History of the University in Europe, Volume I: Universities in the Middle Ages, W. Ruegg (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 1992.
- ^ Rait, R.S. 1912. Life in the Medieval University, p. 133
- ^ Rait, R.S. 1912. Life in the Medieval University, p. 138
- ^ Rait, R.S. 1912. Life in the Medieval University, p. 138
- ^ Rait, R.S. 1912. Life in the Medieval University, pp. 138-139
- ^ Rait, R.S. 1912. Life in the Medieval University, p. 138
- ^ Rait, R.S. 1912. Life in the Medieval University, p. 139
- ^ Rait, R.S. 1912. Life in the Medieval University, p. 139
- ^ O. Pedersen, The First Universities - Studium Generale and the Origins of University Education in Europe, Cambridge University Press, 1997
- ^ Pedersen, o.c., Chapter 10: Curricula and intellectual trends.
- ^ H. Rashdall, o.c., Volume 3, page 352.
- ^ H. Rashdall, o.c., Volume 3, page 360.
- ^ Rashdall, o.c., Chapter I, page 8.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part Three: Life in Christ
Section One: Man's Vocation Life in The Spirit
CHAPTER ONE : THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Article 4:2 Morality of Human Acts - Good Acts and Evil Acts
SECTION ONE
ONE MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
1699 Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man (chapter one). This life is made up of divine charity and human solidarity (chapter two). It is graciously offered as salvation (chapter three).
1699 Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man (chapter one). This life is made up of divine charity and human solidarity (chapter two). It is graciously offered as salvation (chapter three).
CHAPTER ONE
THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
1700
The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness
of God (article 1); it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude
(article 2). It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this
fulfillment (article 3). By his deliberate actions (article 4), the human
person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by
moral conscience (article 5). Human beings make their own contribution to their
interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means
of this growth (article 6). With the help of grace they grow in virtue (article
7), avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal
son Lk 15:11-32 to the mercy of our Father in heaven (article 8). In this way they
attain to the perfection of charity.
Article 4
THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS
1749
Freedom makes man a moral subject. When he acts deliberately, man is, so to
speak, the father of his acts. Human acts, that is, acts that are freely chosen
in consequence of a judgment of conscience, can be morally evaluated. They are
either good or evil.
II. Good Acts and Evil
Acts
1755
A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the
circumstances together. An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is
good in itself (such as praying and fasting "in order to be seen by
men").
The object of the choice can by itself vitiate an act in its entirety. There are some concrete acts - such as fornication - that it is always wrong to choose, because choosing them entails a disorder of the will, that is, a moral evil.
The object of the choice can by itself vitiate an act in its entirety. There are some concrete acts - such as fornication - that it is always wrong to choose, because choosing them entails a disorder of the will, that is, a moral evil.
1756
It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering
only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social
pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context. There are acts
which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are
always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury,
murder and adultery. One may not do evil so that good may result from it.
IN BRIEF
1757 The object, the
intention, and the circumstances make up the three "sources" of the
morality of human acts.
1758 The object chosen
morally specifies the act of willing accordingly as reason recognizes and
judges it good or evil.
1759 "An evil action
cannot be justified by reference to a good intention" (cf St. Thomas
Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). the end does not justify the means.
1760 A morally good act
requires the goodness of its object, of its end, and of its circumstances
together.
1761 There are concrete acts
that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of
the will, i.e., a moral evil. One may not do evil so that good may result from
it.
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