Letter of the Master General

LETTER OF THE MASTER GENERAL CASA QENERALIZIA DELL' DRDINE DEl FRATI PREDICATOR! Roma, (8-48) ............... . Convento S. Sabina (Aventino) It was with great pleasure that we learned of this special occasion to honor the Very Reverend William Humbert Kane, 0. P ., founder of The Albertus Magnus Lyceum at River Forest, Illinois. We were particularly pleased to hear that this homage on the part of brethren and Sisters of our Order as well as religious of various other Orders and a host of eminent laymen transcended nationalities and provincial boundaries. It is only by cooperative effort among learned men that the sublime ideal of St. Albert the Great can be realized in a troubled world. No one can view recent developments in atomic physics without grave concern not only for the future of humanity, but also for the very scientists who have merited the respect of their peers and the admiration of the masses and withal have come to feel a certain uneasiness of their own consciences. Scientists have become accustomed to the adulation· of the general public. This adulation, growing with every new discovery , led them to spurn the traditional channels of wisdom, and to close their eyes ever more to the legitimate claims of supernatural religion, moral principles, perennial philosophy, and other. elements of culture which contribute to a truly human life. In the nineteenth century certain specialists in a particular branch of physics, chemistry, biology or psychology lll lV LETTER OF THE MASTER GENERAL were willing to be considered the oracles of all human wisdom. The narrow confines of a specialized branch of natural science, as we know, provided no vantage point. Consequently, whatever could not be comprehended by the specialized principles was misinterpreted, ridiculed or rejected. However, recent developments within many branches of science have shaken these imprudent positions. From the turn of the century to the present day an ever increasing number of scientists have found themselves asking questions which formerly were looked upon by them as purely " philosophical." Pope Leo XIII saw dearly that all social errors, and consequently a large part of social evils, are ultimately traceable to false philosophical principles. These are as erroneous today as they were in the nineteenth century. Throughout his encyclicals he used the principles of St. Thomas Aquinas, that " prince and master " of all Scholastic doctors, to analyze prevailing thought and to outline the rehabilitation of Christian society. In his immortal encyclical Aetemi Patris he observed: " If anyone will but turn his attention to the sad condition of our times, and contemplate thoughtfully the state of things which exists publicly and privately, he will surely perceive that the fertile cause of the evils which actually surround us, or of which we fear the coming, consists in this, that the wicked maxims on divine and human things which have recently sprung from the schools of the philosophers have invaded all classes of society, and are approved by a very great number." 1 Consequently, he urged all Bishops, teachers and students " to restore the illustrious system of St. Thomas Aquinas to its former glory " that the coming generations may nourish themselves "abundantly from those purest streams of wisdom that flow from the Angelic Doctor, as from an inexhaustible and precious fountain ." 2 That same pontiff in the year 1880, by his Apostolic Letter Cum hoc sit,3 made and declared Thomas Aquinas, " who ever shone as the sun in his doctrine and virtue," the heavenly patron of all Catholic schools, commending him 1 AAS, XII (1879), 98. • Ibid., p. 112. • AAS, XIII (1880), 56-59. LETTER OF THE MASTER GENERAL v especially as the guardian, leader and master of philosophical and theological studies.~ The call of Pope Pius XI, Ite ad Thomam, rings as clear today as it did in 1923 when he addressed Studio-rum Ducem to the whole Catholic Church.5 In more recent times, a deep need was felt by many for a heavenly patron in the natural sciences. In the solemn Decree Ad Deum of December 16, 1941, the late Pope Pius XII wrote: " It is no wonder, then, that the universities and the more importan.t Catholic colleges, not only in Italy, but in Germany...