From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The knowledge of God  [II]   
      
   "The knowledge of God is a mountain steep indeed and difficult to   
   climb--the majority of people scarcely reach its base. If one were a   
   Moses, he would ascend higher and hear the sound of trumpets which, as   
   the text of the history says, becomes louder as one advances. For the   
   preaching of the divine nature is truly a trumpet blast, which strikes   
   the hearing, being already loud at the beginning but becoming yet   
   louder at the end."   
   --Excerpt from a sermon of St. Gregory of Nyssa.   
      
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   November 8th - Bl. Duns Scotus   
   (1266?-1308)   
      
   Medieval Christian scholars used to bestow honorary titles upon their   
   most brilliant colleagues. They named St. Thomas Aquinas “Doctor   
   Angelicus” (“Angelic Doctor”); Roger Bacon “Doctor Mirabilis”   
   (“Marvelous Doctor”); St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “Doctor Mellifluus”   
   (“Honey-spoken Doctor”), etc. The brilliant young Franciscan   
   theologian, Blessed Duns Scotus, was given the title “Doctor Subtilis”   
   (“Subtle Teacher”). And sharp-minded he was!   
   There has been some debate over John’s nationality. Because both the   
   Irish and Scottish were anciently called “Scots,” the Irish have tried   
   to claim him as an Irishman. By now, however, it seems pretty clear   
   that he was a Scotsman, born in the little town of Duns in   
   southeastern Scotland.   
      
   John’s family seems to have had the same name as the town. His   
   paternal uncle, a Franciscan friar of Dumfries, Scotland, was named   
   Elias Duns. It was Elias who gave John his earliest education. When he   
   was 15, John himself entered the Franciscans, and around 1290 was sent   
   for further schooling to Oxford University. Once ordained a priest in   
   1291, he was dispatched to Paris to study for the masterate of   
   theology. His teacher was the eminent Spaniard Gonzalvo of Balboa.   
   Friar John came back to Oxford in 1296, and from 1297 to 1301 lectured   
   on the theology of Peter Lombard. (Peter’s book, the Sentences, was   
   then the standard theological text.)   
      
   In 1302 Father John returned to Paris, hoping to finish his   
   magisterial degree. After a year or so, however, he hit a snag. King   
   Philip of France appealed from Pope Boniface VIII to an ecumenical   
   council in a matter in which he and the pope had been disputing. It is   
   wrong to appeal from a pope to a council, for the pope is head of the   
   council; so Duns refused to sign the King’s protest. For his refusal   
   he was sent into exile. His exile from the university was brief,   
   however, and after he had received his degree in 1305, Duns taught two   
   more years in Paris. In late 1307 he was sent to teach at Cologne,   
   Germany. There he died on November 8, 1308, aged about 42. He was   
   buried in the Minoriten (Franciscan) Church at Cologne. His Latin   
   epitaph reads: “Scotland bore me, England received me, France taught   
   me, Cologne holds me fast.”   
      
   Fr. Duns’ chief writings are his lecture notes on the Sentences, notes   
   that he constantly revised. Over the years some of his alleged   
   theological views have been disputed by scholastic theologians of   
   other schools of thought. Frequently he has been criticized for works   
   that were wrongly attributed to him. Although Duns did take a fresh   
   and independent look at Catholic teachings, what this influential   
   scholar taught was basic Catholic doctrine: God’s infinite love;   
   Christ as “God’s greatest work” (a very Franciscan point of view); and   
   Mary’s role in our redemption. Regarding Mary, it was Blessed John who   
   evolved the arguments in proof of her immaculate conception. Five   
   centuries after he wrote, the Immaculate Conception was defined as a   
   dogma of faith.   
      
   Duns’ theological disciples were called Scotists. During the 16th   
   century, first the Renaissance scholars and then the Protestant   
   Reformers (both despisers of medieval culture), ridiculed the Scotists   
   as hair-splitting sophists, and labeled their followers as “dunses”   
   (or “dunces”). Hence, our familiar English word “dunce” for a stupid   
   person!   
      
   The Church, however, has always considered Fr. John to be no “dunce”,   
   but a genius and a holy man. The Franciscans have long regarded him as   
   a saint, and in 1991 Pope John Paul II officially approved, thus   
   equivalently declaring him “blessed”.   
      
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Bible Quote   
   1 He is come up that shall destroy before thy face, that shall keep   
   the siege: watch the way, fortify thy loins, strengthen thy power   
   exceedingly. 2 For the Lord hath rendered the pride of Jacob, as the   
   pride of Israel: because the spoilers have laid them waste, and have   
   marred their vine branches.  (Nahum 2:1-2)   
      
      
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   PRAYER: DIVINE JESUS IN MEMORY OF THE SEVEN LAST WORDS   
      
   O Good Jesus, Son of the living God, Who for our salvation didst   
   vouchsafe to be born in a stable, to live in poverty, suffering and   
   misery, and to die amidst the torments of the Cross, say to Thy Divine   
   Father, I beseech Thee, at the hour of my death: "Father, forgive   
   him;" say to Thy beloved Mother: "Behold thy son;" say to my soul:   
   "This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." My God, my god, forsake   
   me not in that hour! "I thirst!" verily, my God, my soul thirsteth   
   after Thee, Who art the fountain of living waters. My life passeth by   
   like a shadow; yet a little while, and all things shall be   
   accomplished. Whereupon, my adorable Savior, from this moment to all   
   eternity, "into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Lord, Jesus, receive   
   my soul. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)