Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas

The Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas (PAST) (original Latin name, according to article 1 of its statutes: Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinatis) was established on 15 October 1879 by Pope Leo XIII who appointed two presidents, his brother and noted Thomist Giuseppe Pecci (1879-90), and Tommaso Maria Zigliara, professor of theology at the College of Saint Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum.

The academy is one of the Pontifical academies at the Vatican in Rome.

History

The academy was founded with thirty members: ten from Rome, ten from the rest of Italy, and ten from other countries.^[1] The academy was one of several Thomist foundations in places such as Bologna, Fribourg (Switzerland), Paris and Lowden. The Academy was then confirmed by Pius X with his apostolic letter of 23 January 1904 and enlarged by Benedict XV on 31 December 1914. John Paul II reformed the Academy on 28 January 1999 with his apostolic letter Inter munera Academiarium,^[2] issued shortly after his encyclical Fides et Ratio.

The Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas is temporarily headquartered in the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican City. Its objectives, as stated in the Academy's Yearbook (2007, in press), are the following:

• Carry out research, explain and disseminate the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas
• Propose St. Thomas Aquinas as a model Christian teacher, seeker of truth, lover of good and scholar of all learning
• Be at the service of all the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas in accord of the Christian tradition and the Magisterium of the Church, especially as set out in the encyclicals Aeterni Patris and Fides et Ratio
• Explain, in as much as this is possible, the mystery of faith and the analogical connections between its internal articles of faith according to the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas; honouring, thereby, at the same time, his title, Doctor Communis
• Encourage interaction between faith and reason, and foster increasing dialogue between the sciences, philosophy and theology
• Cooperate with the members of other academies in a friendly spirit to promote Christian philosophy and theology
• Stimulate international interaction between scholars of St. Thomas Aquinas and his work
• Further the role of Thomistic thought in society
• Promote education in Thomistic studies and the public's understanding of the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas
• Encourage research into the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

The current president of the PAST is Msgr. Lluís Clavell from Opus Dei, who substituted in June 2009 the Reverend Father Edward Kaczyński, O.P. The current secretary is Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo. Until 1965 the presidency of the PAST was held by a group of cardinals. Pope Paul VI appointed the first single cardinal as president of the PAST, Cardinal Michael Browne, O.P. After his death in 1971, the presidency became vacant until the appointment of Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, O.P. in 1979. After his death in 1996, the PAST was reformed. The office of president would no longer be bestowed on a cardinal and its appointment would be for a five-year period. Abelardo Lobato O.P., professor of philosophy at the College of Saint Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, served as president from 1999 to 2005.

Current members (2011)

See also

• Global organisation of the Catholic Church
• Index of Vatican City-related articles
• Pontifical Academy of Sciences
• Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

Notes

1. ↑ Elie Blanc, Dictionnaire de philosophie ancienne, moderne et contemporaine, art. Scholastique, t. 3, p. 559. For criticism of the Accademia Romana see C. Besse, Deux centres du mouvement thomiste, Paris, 1902, which compares Roman Thomists unfavorably with those of Louvain.
2. ↑ http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19990128_inter-munera-academiarum_en.html

Bibliography

• Year Book, first edition, Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinatis, Vatican City, 2001.
• Yearbook, second edition, Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinatis, Vatican City, 2007.
• D. Berger, In dulcedine societatis quaerere veritatem. Zur Geschichte der Päpstlichen Akademie des hl. Thomas von Aquin. Doctor Angelicus II (2002), 135-180.
• A. Piolanti, La Pontificia Academia Romana di S. Tommaso. Studi Tomistici 17 (1981) 223-235.

External links

• Official Website.
• Pontifical Academies - Website of the Holy See

Pontifical institutions of higher education in Rome Universities University Antonianum Gregorian University Lateran University Salesian University University of the Holy Cross University of St. Thomas Aquinas Urban University Academies Arcadia Alphonsian Academy Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon Sciences Theology Archaeology Martyrs St. Thomas Aquinas Immaculate Conception Mary Life Social Sciences Latin Other Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum Pontificio Ateneo Sant Anselmo Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies Pontifical Biblical Institute The Pontifical Colleges Institute of the Theology of the Consecrated Life Claretianum Pontifical Theological Faculty Marianum Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family Pontifical Oriental Institute Pastorale Universitaria Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum Patristic Institute Augustinianum

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