The Popes and Science: The History of the Papal Relations to Science During the Middle Ages and Down to Our Own TimeWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Religion
The Popes and Science: The History of the Papal Relations to Science During the Middle Ages and Down to Our Own Time
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Popes; Religion and science -- History; Science -- History
Yet it is the Pope who encouraged devotion to science in all forms as
it was studied in his day, who insisted that the standards of
education in the universities of the Papal States, over which he had
direct control, should be equal to those of Paris and Bologna, who
suggested that teachers should be brought from the famous {160}
universities for the purpose of introducing the best educational
methods, who is now declared by President White to have "stimulated
the childish fear and hatred against the investigation of nature which
was felt for centuries, and whose decrees and briefs are said to have
caused chemistry to be known more and more as one of the 'seven
devilish arts.'" Here is the striking difference between traditional
and documentary history.
There are other bulls of Pope John which serve to bring out his
interest in education quite as clearly as this one, and show that the
ecclesiastics of the time were encouraged to think and act up to the
thought, that education of all kinds was sure to be of benefit to the
Church and her members. In extending the privileges of the University
of Perugia on another occasion by the bull _Inter ceteras curas_, John
declared that among the other cares which were enjoined on him from on
high by his Apostolic office and amongst the many projects which were
constantly in his mind for the betterment of religion, his thoughts
were directed more frequently and more ardently to this conclusion
than to any other, that the professors of the Catholic faith whom the
true light of the true faith illuminates should be imbued with the
deepest wisdom and should become erudite in all the studies that bring
profitable knowledge. For, he adds, this gift cannot be bought by any
price, but is divinely granted to minds that are of good will. For the
possession of knowledge is evidently desirable, since by it the
darkness of ignorance and the gloom of error are entirely done away
with and the intelligence of students is increased so as to direct all
their acts and deeds in the light of truth. "It is for this reason
(and no wonder)," he adds, "that I am led to encourage the study of
{161} letters in which the priceless pearl of knowledge is to be
found, and especially in such places as may bear worthy fruit for the
Church itself and for its members."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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