The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Sienna

The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Sienna

St. Catherine, the author of The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Sienna,  and born 1347, was a woman of intense interiority and spirituality, who's contributions aided the Catholic Church through one of its most scandalous moments in history. By the age of 7, she consecrated her life to God after an encounter of her first mystical experience. At thirteen she entered the Dominican Sisters of Penance, and there she developed a following of lay and religious, who were inspired by the immense grace God had put within her, and the holiness with which she lived her life. Through this immense grace, wisdom, and kindness, St. Catherine persuaded Pope Gregory XI to move from Avignon back to Rome. She succeeded, he returned. She likewise sought to council the pope's successor, he however would not be moved, and in 1380, at the age of 33, St. Catherine died. Only 81 years later, St. Catherine of Sienna was declared a saint. She left after her a legacy, the words which formed her, a dialogue between her soul and God, piercing and purifying to read. The Dialogue was written in 1370, and is a work of non-fiction, written in a conversation between God and St. Catherine. 

The book is divided into four sections, first, A Treaty of Divine Providence, second, A Treaty of Discretion, third, A Treaty of Prayer, and fourth, A Treaty of Obedience.The book will appeal to any reader who wishes to grow more authentically in love of Christ, through unity with Him, and a desire to glorify Him, as well to grow in charity towards their brother.

The dialogue contains the conversation of a soul abandoned to its creator. Her questions simple, selfless, edifying, and God's response's to her all the more edifying to an unsuspecting reader. Most potently, God illustrates before her and therefore the reader, the Bridge over which a soul must cross in order to obtain everlasting life in Heaven. He himself being the Bridge. “Open the eyes of thy intellect, and wonder at those who voluntarily drown themselves, and at the baseness to which they are fallen by their fault, from which cause they have become weak, and this was then that they first conceived mortal sin in their minds.” 1. From there, God opens before her the tragedies and torments that take place within a soul who crosses beneath and bridge and drowns in the waters, handing his immortal soul to the devil. Delving deeply into the human conscience, God illuminates every wickedness of the human heart as originating in self love, and with the clarity of what one might feel on Judgement Day, He, through her words, opens the chasm of our soul and names the sins for which every man is guilty. The reader, wound now opened and conscience laid bare, is drawn into the conversation with the pain of an unflinching eye as the realities of exist lay quite naked and actual before him.

Within the text, God's very heart is laid bare, man's guilt inexcusably unjustifiable, the only desire which saves him is desire for God Himself, and true sorrow for his offense against God. The sin of man , his salvation, the way of mercy, the way of sin, the way to hell, means of salvation, the pains of hell, the mercy of God, are set upon the conscience of the reader with a clarity both painful and purifying, leaving him with no doubt. The reader walks away convinced and inspired: he indeed is a hopeless sinner, and ah, to love more! The book illustrates quite clearly that nothing but the striving for perfect and unselfish love brings the soul to God, a striving for which we are by no means obscured or excused.

However this text is not experienced without joy, healing, and love. One quote in particular speaks of the different variations of tears which come from a soul. In reference to the tears brought on by redemption, the Lord says to St. Catherine “The third are tears of those who, having abandoned sin, are beginning to serve and taste Me, and weep for very sweetness; but since their love is imperfect, so is their weeping, as I have told thee. The fourth are the tears of those who have arrived at perfect love of their neighbor, loving Me without any regard whatever for themselves...the fifth are joined to the fourth and are tears of sweetness let fall with great peace...the tears of fire without bodily tears of the eyes, which satisfy those who often would desire to weep and cannot. And I wish thee to know that all these various graces may exist in one soul, who, rising from fear and imperfect love, reaches perfect love in the unitive way.” 2. Here, while the reader may feel daunted and overwhelmed by how it has the choice to love, and at what price it will come, there is given hope that through the “unitive way”, love is purified.

A copy of this book may be found online free of charge, at www.ewtn.com/library, in the Algar Thorold translation. It may also be found, in the same translation at Amazon.com for $8.25, with editor Darrell Wright. Catholic bookstores, for example EWTN Bookstore, sells the copy for a comparable price.

1. Catherine, and Algar Thorold. The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin, Catherine of Siena: Dictated by Her, While in a State of Ecstasy, to Her Secretaries, and Completed in the Year of Our Lord 1370: Together with an Account of Her Death by an Eye-witness. Rockford, IL: Tan, 1974. Print. 93

2. Catherine, and Algar Thorold. The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin, Catherine of Siena: Dictated by Her, While in a State of Ecstasy, to Her Secretaries, and Completed in the Year of Our Lord 1370: Together with an Account of Her Death by an Eye-witness. Rockford, IL: Tan, 1974. Print.

Beneath Thy Compassion, Theotokos

(The oldest Byzantine icon of Mary, c.600)

“Theotokos,” an ancient name given to Mary, attributed to her by theologians such as Origen and early church fathers, is found, in its earliest written and lyrical form, in a prayer entitled, “Beneath Thy Compassion.” “[Theotokos], rendered in Greek...probably appeared for the first time in the very region of Alexandria, Egypt” 1. The title "Theotokos" title was declared a valid name attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Church in the Council of Ephesus, in 430 ad. “During that Council, to the great joy of Christians, the truth of the divine motherhood of Mary was solemnly confirmed as a truth of the Church's faith. Mary is the Mother of God (= Theotókos).”2

This discovered hymn, which is still practiced today, is said to have dated back as far as 250 AD, long before the Council of Ephesus... within the time of Origen, “precisely where [he] lived for the first half of the century,”3 the very time this hymn was predicted to have been written.

In the Greek, in which it was originally found:

Υπο την σην ευσπλαγχνιαν καταφευγομεν Θεοτοκε. τας ημων ικεσιας μη παριδης εν περιστασει, αλλ’ εκ κινδυνων λυτρωσαι ημας, μονη αγνη, μονη ευλογημενη.

It was discovered within Coptic Christian liturgy from the 3^rd Century. Written in Greek, this beautiful text translates:

Under your
mercy
we take refuge,
Mother of God! Our
prayers, do not despise
in necessities,
but from the danger
deliver us,
only pure,
only blessed.

And, this is what it sounds like:

Taking the english translation of the text, I have endeavored to apply what I imagined this hymn might have sounded like if it were written today, attempting to keep with it a prayerful, solemn tone:

1. II, John Paul, Pope. "Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987) | John Paul II." Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987) | John Paul II. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

2. Benedict XVI, Pope. "31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI." 31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

3. Benedict XVI, Pope. "31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI." 31 December 2006, Vespers and Te Deum | BENEDICT XVI. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

My Morning at an Eastern Orthodox Church

In comparison to any other culture, the Christian East has the unique and privileged role as the original setting where the Church was born. Our Eastern Christian brothers and sisters are very conscious of being the living bearers of this tradition and the whole treasure of tradition they preserve. It is this Tradition that preserves the Church.

 Holy Myrrh-Bearers Orthodox Church is located in St Cloud, MN and I was blessed to spend a morning visiting with Father Nathan Kroll and his wife, Heidi. 

If Tradition puts us in continuity with the past, eschatological expectation opens us to God's future. If Tradition teaches the Church fidelity to what gave birth to her, eschatological expectation urges her toward becoming what she has not yet fully become; what the Lord wants her to become. True Christian union is possible only through total respect for one other's dignity. We are hopeful that unity will be achieved how and when the Lord desires, and that it will require the contribution of love's sensitivity. Unity depends on improving our knowledge of one another; to know the liturgy of the Eastern Church; to deepen our knowledge of the spiritual traditions of the Fathers and Doctors of the Christian East, to follow the example of the Eastern Churches for the inculturation of the Gospel message: its entire liturgy is a commemoration of salvation and an invocation of the Lord's return.

The Orthodox understand everything in the Church to be sacramental. All of life becomes a sacrament in Christ who fills life itself with the Spirit of God. Father Nathan’s wife, Heidi spoke of how Theophany continues to flows together through church life. 

“To be Orthodox means to live the entire life integrated within the Liturgical Year. To define this way of life as “tradition” almost seems too insignificant a word. It is a way of life happening all around the world by people worshiping the same way, so it goes beyond tradition.” 

The church is not one more encounter in the day. It is what makes our lives intelligible. 

Heidi says, 

“It goes beyond “remembering” because we are actually celebrating and worshipping with the faithful of the past.” 

The human experience must be placed in God as in all truth and reality. God does not stand to the side watching our journey unfold. He is our journey. 

“The Divine Liturgy sets the guidelines for how we live the rest of the day and how we plan for the next Liturgical day. We have a deep sense of unity with our universal church. For example, every single wedding is celebrated exactly the same. When a couple approaches the church for matrimony, they do not bring their personal preferences for ceremony to the church.” 

Instead, they approach the church where she meets the couple at the Sacred Mystery of Marriage to enter into a new union within God’s Kingdom. 

Heidi describes this universal tradition beautifully as “the art of the usual thing.” 

As we tell the story of our lives we realize that it is only meaningful when we tell it from the perspective of God in those lives. It is then that it becomes an actual story. When we tell of the uniqueness that led us to him, we realize that without him, we would be just like every other pilgrim. Each one of us has a desire to be personally loved so, it is a great moment when we realize that our story is the story of how he has been there and loved us our entire lives. We realize that we want to be loved for the entirety of what brought us to the present, with all of our past experiences.

Every one of our stories is a rough draft before the moment we trust truth to be our story’s editor. Our individual experiences may not all be pleasant or easily traveled, but God sanctifies the journey. If we realize this, we are better equipped to find the unity he calls all Christians toward in his earthly life to fulfill the eternal life. Father Nathan Kroll’s journey was a search for truth.

“The truth is always the truth and Christ is the truth. At the core, the Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth and sustains that truth in a way that lives and breathes because the truth will never change.” 

While visiting about his journey to the Orthodox faith and ordination, I learned that the Orthodox do not typically attend daily liturgy nor would Father Kroll ever celebrate a liturgy alone. The reason for this lies within the teachings of the liturgy itself. The Divine Liturgy in the Eastern Orthodox Church requires a response.

“The priesthood is granted by God but needs to be affirmed by the people. The priest needs to be affirmed by the Body of Christ who responds with “Qxios”—Greek word, “He is worthy.” As the Orthodox priest stands before the Altar, he begins, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. And those words that form the blessing of God, which requires a response from the faithful, which is, “Amen.” Let it be so!”

We sat together in the nave, reflecting on our humanness and the attempt to describe our Divine God with limited words. We spoke of the frustration of trying to define the Divine with human vocabulary. Father Kroll gave me a term to look up: "Apophatic Theology." And here, I pause to chuckle as I realize that it was only me, for Father Kroll was then, and is now, rooted in the Eastern “theology that attempts to speak of God only in absolute certain terms and to avoid what may not be said.” (The sign of a good teacher: one who allows you discover the answer on your own to a question you didn't even realize you asked!)

Father Nathan said this:

“It’s wonderful to come to church to be spoken to, but to be washed over by the church is to experience God in a way that is given when there are no words.” 

Looking back on the conversation, I can see how two pieces of the larger puzzle fit together. To worship in the Orthodox Church is to be surrounded by the beauty and immersed in the prayer of the icon whose purpose is to lift one up to the Divine; eyes and soul. To move the spirit, and to provide a place of meeting in this world on earth which enables us to touch divinity. The "internal gaze" of venerating the icon fills the soul with a pure joy in only the way that the spirit can when allowed to join with the divine through worship. It truly is a “washing over in a way that is given when there are no words.” Those two pieces, in turn, go a long way in attempting to understand the East and the West and in piecing together my own story.

Luke 22:32 Revised Standard Version (RSV) "but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren in the faith.”

 Thank you, Heidi & Father Kroll, for your gift of time and sharing your faith with me!

___________________

Visit to Holy Myrrh-Bearers Orthodox Church, 10, March 2017.

Summary:John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Orientale Lumen, 2 May, 1995.

A Brief History of St. Louis IX of France and the Seventh and Eighth Crusades

     St. Louis IX was king of France during the thirteenth century, reigning from 1226 until his death in 1270. [1] [2]  The son of King Louis VIII, he was born in 1214 and became king when he was only twelve on account of the sudden death of his father. [3]  From a young age, St. Louis IX sought to live a life of holiness, and as king he devoted much time to prayer, cared for the poor and the sick, and sought to advance justice for all. [4] [5]  In 1234, he married Marguerite of Provence, who became the mother of eleven children and who was among his closest advisers. [6] [7]  Moreover, he established commissions throughout France in order to provide local government for his subjects. [8]

     In 1244, St. Louis IX became gravely ill with a malady which threatened to take his life. [9]  During this time of distress, he vowed that if God granted him the grace of recovery, he would go on a crusade. [10]  After several years of preparation, this expedition, the Seventh Crusade, set out toward Egypt on 25 August 1247 with Jerusalem as its final goal. [11] [12] [13]  Despite displaying great bravery and capturing Damietta, his army was unable to make significant progress against the Muslim forces and was struck by illness, which affected St. Louis as well. [14]  He endeavored to negotiate with the Muslims; however, his army was tricked into surrendering by a rumor which was deliberately started by the Muslims. [15]  They proceeded to capture St. Louis and his army, executing all of the sick soldiers and a significant number of the healthy men. [16]  Through his skill in negotiating, St. Louis persuaded the Muslims to free him and his army if he would give them Damietta. [17]

     Returning to France, St. Louis spent some time in his home country, but felt compelled to embark upon another crusade. [18]  He began preparations for the Eighth Crusade in 1267, planning to attack Jerusalem by first proceeding through North Africa. [19] [20]  His army landed in Tunisia on 17 July 1270, but was unfortunately struck by the plague a short while later. [21]  St. Louis himself became afflicted with the disease and died on the 25th of August 1270, after having received the Last Sacraments. [22]

     From a military standpoint, the Seventh and Eighth Crusades were highly unsuccessful.  They accomplished very little and were never able to reach the Holy Land, the ultimate objective of King St. Louis IX's army.  Their primary relevance comes not from any strategic accomplishment, but rather from the holiness and dedication of the man who led them.  Although those without faith will see the efforts of St. Louis IX in these wars as a complete failure, they are a glorious success from a spiritual perspective.  For St. Louis was fighting not for himself, nor for any temporal cause, but rather for God.  The life of St. Louis IX, and in particular his dedication to the cause of liberating the Holy Land, is summarized beautifully in these words from Christ the King: Lord of History: "He never saw the earthly Jerusalem, the goal of so many of his efforts, but he entered gloriously into the heavenly Jerusalem, which he had always served." [23]

Endnotes

[1] M. Cecilia Gaposchkin, ed., and Sean L. Field, ed., The Sanctity of Louis IX: Early Lives of Saint Louis by Geoffrey of Beaulieu and William of Chartres, translated by Larry F. Field (Ithaca, NY; and London, England: Cornell University Press, 2014), Introduction, 2.
[2] Anne W. Carroll, Christ the King, Lord of History (Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, 1994), 184.
[3] The Sanctity of Louis IX, Introduction, 2.
[4] The Sanctity of Louis IX, 73.
[5] Christ the King, Lord of History, 182.
[6] The Sanctity of Louis IX, Introduction, 3.
[7] Christ the King, Lord of History, 182.
[8] Christ the King, Lord of History, 182.
[9] The Sanctity of Louis IX, Introduction, 6.
[10] The Sanctity of Louis IX, Introduction, 6.
[11] The Sanctity of Louis IX, Introduction, 6.
[12] John Vidmar, OP, The Catholic Church through the Ages (New York, NY; and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2014), 133.
[13] Christ the King, Lord of History, 183.
[14] Christ the King, Lord of History, 183-184.
[15] Christ the King, Lord of History, 183
[16] Christ the King, Lord of History, 184.
[17] Christ the King, Lord of History, 184.
[18] Christ the King, Lord of History, 184
[19] Christ the King, Lord of History, 184
[20] The Catholic Church through the Ages, 133.
[21] Christ the King, Lord of History, 184.
[22] Christ the King, Lord of History, 184.
[23] Christ the King, Lord of History,  184.

Image I: Georges Rouget, Mise of Amiens, 1264, 1820 (Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France). At http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/2015/08/24/st-louis-ix-king-of-france-august-25th/.

Image II: Charles Henry Niehaus and W.R. Hodges, Apotheosis of St. Louis, 1904-1906 (St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO). At https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-louis-of-france/.

Knowing "The Cloud of Unknowing"

“However, there are some presently engaged in the active life who are being prepared by grace to grasp the message of this book. I am thinking of those who feel the mysterious action of the Spirit in their inmost being stirring them to love. I do not say that they continually feel this stirring, as experienced contemplatives do, but now and again they taste something of contemplative love in the very core of their being.  Should such folk read this book, I believe they will be greatly encouraged and reassured.”

- The unknown author of The Cloud of Unknowing

Considered a staple of Western literature and Christian spirituality, The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous English monk’s detailed meditation on what separates men from God and how through this separation we can grow in union with Him. This contemplative work was originally written in the 14th century, and has remained indispensable to those seeking to grow in the spiritual life. Consisting of a series of letters from a monk to his student, this piece of spiritual writing seeks to instruct the reader in the way of Divine union. The author presents a book of true counseling, more direct and firm than is custom in much of today’s literature, but written with the conviction that comes from life-long practice.

The anonymous author describes three forms of prayer: reading (contemplative reading); ordinary prayer (with words); and contemplative prayer (in silence). It is within these three forms that the book should be read; through a slow and contemplative reading that leads us to prayer with our lips and finishes with a silent union between ourselves and God. This union is exactly what the title of the book is referring to; a union by way of a cloud of unknowing. Paradoxically, the author begins to describe a spirituality where by not knowing we come to know God ever deeper. He writes that, “Thought cannot comprehend God. And so, I prefer to abandon all I can know, choosing rather to love him whom I cannot know. Though we cannot know him we can love him”[1] Often, theologians and spiritual novices alike attempt to grow in union with God through knowledge of Him, but they end up only distancing themselves. The basis for prayer and contemplation should lie within a union of love wherein we allow God to “know” us through what the author describes as a “naked intent for God.”[2] The essence of prayer is found less in thought than in love and in our will, and it is in this openness to love and not to knowledge that union is achieved.

This may sound very simple, as it at first did to me, yet the practice of self-emptying is one that is not in the beginning accompanied by spiritual joys and fruit. However, the author tells us to diligently persevere; “For in the beginning it is usual to feel nothing but a kind of darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing.”[3]

The book suggests that in contemplation we should experience a kind of darkness about God as well as a “cloud of forgetting” where our sins and all earthly concerns fall away from us. The “cloud of unknowing,” may perhaps leave us feeling far from God, but in reality it is bringing us into a deeper union with Him. Though the cloud may cast a darkness over us, we become united to the cloud through such darkness. The author writes, “For if, in this life, you hope to feel and see God as He is in Himself it must be within this darkness and cloud.”[4] The concerns of this world keep us from God and, as a result, we must leave them behind (forget them) so that we are able to leave space for God to enter in their place.

The contemplative action described by the author differs vastly from the type of meditation that we often think of today, and for that reason the book can seem quite distant from modern man. In contrast modern man seeks a type of mediation that is more imaginative and driven by our senses (an example is the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius). However, The Cloud of Unknowing suggests that contemplation is apophatic and without any images. The author describes prayer as a personal, refreshing, and a silent work where the individual empties their mind and opens their heart; standing “naked before grace, Himself.”

To be sure, contemplation is God's gift to man; with God's help we are only able to stir up a longing within our hearts to pray and contemplate. The author recommends that we take a short phrases in order to stir up this longing (such as, for example, “My Lord, and My God.”) and repeat it, breathe it in, fall silent to it. He implores us: “Select only the words God nudges you toward.” Then all we have left to do is to wait with patience and persistence within the darkness of the cloud.

In prayer we need both humility and patience. Humility should not only be a recognition of our sinfulness, but also a knowledge of God’s superabundant love for us. Glenn Young, in his article on self-awareness in The Cloud of Unknowing, sees humility as an example of the correlation between the mysticism of the text along with our growth in self-knowledge. The cultivation of humility that focuses purely on our sinfulness is imperfect as it arises solely from an awareness and evaluation of oneself as a sinful being. “This division of humility into perfect and imperfect experiences is important because it is only imperfect humility which arises from reflection upon the nature of the self, a nature which is fundamentally characterized by sin. In contrast, perfect humility results not from awareness of oneself, but rather through attention to the divine nature.”[5] The author goes so far as to say that the movement from imperfect to perfect humility is marked by a complete, though temporary, loss of self-knowledge and self-awareness. In its imperfect form, the virtue of humility does involve awareness of self to the extent that one is conscious of one's sinfulness. Humility is brought to perfection, however, only when knowledge of self is superseded by awareness of God. This is not a matter of thinking less of oneself, but thinking of one's self less.

Though speaking with authority and firmness, the author gives evidence of his own humility by offering a caveat to the strict demands he makes of his spiritual students. Robert Hale points out how the author of The Cloud of Unknowing hesitates to give specific recommendations to his disciple. Hale suggests he does so for two reasons: the first is that he doesn’t want us to rely on his view of contemplation as absolutely true; the other is that he doesn’t know our own personal spirituality and temperaments enough to give adequate advice.[6]

This recognition that each person has a different manner of contemplation, while coming towards the end of the book, brought me some comfort and relief. I was able to appreciate all that the author had to suggest on contemplation, yet I found him rather persistent in his own method of alterity. I was not convinced that this was the best method in general or for my own spiritual life. However, he humbles himself and suggests that in anything that we do we should examine both extremes and choose something in the middle. What is that something? It is God, “for whose sake you are quiet if you should be quiet, for whose sake you speak if you have to speak, for whose sake you fast if you ought to fast, and so on. Then choose God, and you will speak by your silence, and there will be a silence in your speech, you will be fasting while you eat, and eating when you fast, and all the rest.”[7] This middle way, at its deepest is the author’s way to be one with God, the God who is known and loved by unknowing.

The anonymous author states that The Cloud of Unknowing will not be for everyone. He did not write for the curious or disinterested but rather for those who sense the grace-filled call to this intimate prayer and work. The Cloud of Unknowing is one English monk’s spiritual path to union with God and offers his own advice and reflections on it. Though wordy and direct in his intention, the author does bring his readers along to reflect on their own relationship with God and examine what steps we can personally take towards achieving a higher union.

I would recommend this book only to those who are firm enough in their own spiritual life to be able to pick and choose from what the author has to suggest. Were a novice of prayer to read this they may find themselves quite distressed and disappointed at their personal prayer life when they need not be. The book's claim that one must reach a mystical union with God through complete emptiness deserves more thought and must be handled delicately. Admittedly difficult to read and follow, this book does offer many useful meditations on our own relationship with God if one is able to slowly digest and think about what is being suggested. The Cloud of Unknowing is available in many different translations and from a wide variety of publishers. However, one of the more prominent versions is published by Shambhala Publications for around $19. A link is posted at the bottom of the page.

Whether we prefer more of an Ignatian way of images or the image-less way of “The Cloud,” all prayer is a simple reaching out to God and allowing God to take hold of us. What I most appreciated about the book was the author’s recognition that God tailors contemplative prayer to us personally. In the end, as the author insists: “If you want to find your soul, look at what you love.”[8]

[1] Anonymous, “The Cloud of Unkowing,” Translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Shambhala Publications, (Boston, 2009), 14.
[2] Anonymous, “The Cloud of Unkowing,” 17.
[3] Anonymous, “The Cloud of Unkowing,” 34.
[4] Anonymous, “The Cloud of Unkowing,” 28.
[5] Glenn Young, “Forget yourself and your deeds for God: Awareness and Transcendence of Self in the Cloud of Unknowing,” Mystics Quarterly, Vol. 31 Issue 1/2, (Mar/Jun 2005), p9-22.
[6]Robert Hale, “The Author of the Cloud of Unknowing as Teacher and Disciple,” Religion East & West, Issue 6, (Oct 2006), p53-60. 8p.
[7] Anonymous, “The Cloud of Unkowing,” 36.
[8] Anonymous, “The Cloud of Unkowing,” 47.

Purchase The Cloud of Unknowing HERE

Old-School Philosophy, Patristic Style

St. Thomas Aquinas’s thought should be regarded as the high point of intellectual theology.[1] But while St. Thomas may be the most famous Catholic philosopher, he was by no means the first. Rather, he was one of the Scholastics, who comprised an intellectual branch of theology starting with St. Augustine in the fifth century.[2]

Augustine, in turn, has been described as one of “three major streams, or tributaries, that … feed into the great river that is medieval thought” (such as that of St. Thomas’s) alongside the Pseudo-Dionysius and Boethius.[3] But even these men were not the first post-biblical Christian philosophers; for they in turn were preceded by a number of Church Fathers (Augustine being himself one of these) who also qualified as philosophers.[4] What did these people do, so long ago, to contribute to or hinder the progression of philosophy down through the ages? What did they have to say for themselves? It is these men’s philosophies that, primarily with the information provided by Fr. Frederick Copleston, S.J.’s A History of Philosophy: Volume II, I will briefly and individually summarize. Also provided are either an audio recording of, or the full text to, one work by each of them.

Marcianus Aristides

Marcianus Aristides, a second-century thinker, used philosophy to defend the Christian faith and to attack pagan beliefs. He reasoned that God was the “Mover of the world,” believed God to have “attributes of eternity, perfection, incomprehensibility, wisdom, [and] goodness,” and basically offered “a very rudimentary natural theology.”[5]

Full text of Aristides’ Apology:

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/aristides-kay.html

St. Justin Martyr

St. Justin Martyr, who was martyred in the second century, made the rounds of pagan philosophy, finding Stoicism, Peripateticism, Pythagoreanism, and even Platonism to be dissatisfactory. In the end, he found intellectual rest in Christianity—though he still thought highly of the theories of Platonism. He did not think of theology as being anything separate from philosophy, and viewed this unified philosophy as “a most precious gift of God, designed to lead man to God.”[6]

Audio readings of St. Justin Martyr’s First Apology:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnpZCOP4Eyk&list=PLVwbBvePrG5JdXFpZXEPL5Ce5zCAFUhry&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T67bBb2EP-U&index=2&list=PLVwbBvePrG5JdXFpZXEPL5Ce5zCAFUhry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdKt-eu3oj0&index=3&list=PLVwbBvePrG5JdXFpZXEPL5Ce5zCAFUhry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6_GBHYWYIk&index=4&list=PLVwbBvePrG5JdXFpZXEPL5Ce5zCAFUhry

Tatian

Tatian was St. Justin’s pupil, but he did not share all of Justin’s views—which is obvious both from the fact that he had little regard for Greek philosophy and the fact that he later fell into heresy (adopting Valentian Gnosticism and going so far as to reject marriage). He actually had a kind of reversed idea (compared with Justin) of pagan philosophies, believing that the only truth in them was what they took from the Bible. However, he did assent to God’s existence being knowable on the basis of His works by human reason along with other reasoned, Scripturally-based truths, and he “made use of philosophical notions and categories in the development of theology.”[7]

Full text of Tatian’s Address to the Greeks:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0202.htm

Athenagoras

Athenagoras, another second-century writer, was in agreement with St. Justin’s understanding of pagan philosophy. He also acted as an early apologist, writing against the ideas that Christians committed cannibalism and incest and that they were (of all things) atheists, and against the possibility of multiple gods.[8]

Full text of Athenagoras’ Plea for the Christians:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0205.htm

Theophilus of Antioch

Theophilus, also a writer of the second century, stressed the importance of upright morality and spoke of “God’s incomprehensibility, power, wisdom, eternity, [and] immutability.” He appreciated Plato (although he made note of Plato’s errors) but should have done more homework on him and other Greek philosophers, as “He is not always accurate in his account of [their] opinions.”[9]

Links to the full texts of Theophilus’ To Autolycus, books I, II, and III:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02041.htm

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02042.htm

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02043.htm

St. Irenaeus

St. Irenaeus was born sometime between or near 137 and 140. Fighting against the Gnostics, he defended the Christian doctrines of creation and the moral law, upheld God’s infinity as going beyond the scope of complete human comprehension, and spoke against reincarnation. “According to Irenaeus the Gnostics borrowed most of their notions from Greek philosophers.”[10]

Full audio readings of St. Irenaeus’ Against Heresies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wppEY_FUf4o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqgXxoT28fg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOigQqLyPNU

Hippolytus

Hippolytus, who was a student of St. Irenaeus, lived until the mid to early third century. He believed the Gnostics both stole and further screwed up the faulty ideas of the Greek philosophers, and that “they glorified … creation with dainty phrases” without acknowledging the Creator.[11] Another interesting note about Hippolytus is that, despite being a martyr and a saint, he at one time actually made a false claim to the papacy.[12] He is the only one to make such a claim and yet still be canonized.[13]

Link to a selection of the available books (one and three through ten) of Hippolytus’ Refutation of All Heresies:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0501.htm

Tertullian

Tertullian, a Christian convert born in 160, was strongly against pagan philosophies (though he “was influenced by the Stoics”[14]). He, like Tatian, thought God could be known through His works, and also reasoned that God’s being uncreated could be used as a basis for His perfection. However, he made a seemingly unorthodox statement in saying that “everything, including God, is corporeal, bodily”—but it’s possible that when he referred to body he really meant substance, not actually anything material.[15] He was quite helpful in introducing Christian philosophy to the Latin language (he was actually the first to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as Persons), but he eventually adopted the heresy of Montanism.[16]

Audio reading of Tertullian’s On Patience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKFySZvp3pU

Minucius Felix

Minucius Felix was (or was close to being) a contemporary of Tertullian. Minucius basically believed that God’s existence could be shown by demonstrating His intelligent design and His unity from that of the universe, and Minucius could see that certain pagan philosophers and philosophies had legitimately caught on to aspects of the reality of God.[17]

Full text of Minucius Felix’s Octavius:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0410.htm

Arnobius

Arnobius, who wrote in the early fourth century, spoke against the Platonic notions of pre-existence and reminiscence. However, there were some issues with his reasoning, including his ideas that God used a creating agent of lesser value than Himself, and that a soul’s immortality was not natural but of a “gratuitous character.”[18]

Link to books one through seven of Arnobius’ Against the Heathen:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0631.htm

Lactantius

Lactantius lived from (approximately on both ends) 250-325. His main philosophical contribution was his upholding God’s creation of souls directly (contrary to the idea of traducianism).[19]

Full text to Lactantius’ On the Workmanship of God:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0704.htm

Clement of Alexandria

Titus Flavius Clemens lived from 150 to somewhere near 219. He was a strong proponent of believing in God prior to understanding Him, yet he also thought that the Greeks were ultimately guided by the divine Logos where their understanding of God was accurate. As a matter of fact, he thought their philosophies to be both “a preparation for” and “an aid in understanding Christianity.” He desired Christianity to be placed in such a philosophical light.[20] Additionally, he did not believe we could know directly about God, but rather only what God isn’t.[21]

Links to the full text of Clement of Alexandria’s The Paedagogus, books I, II, and III:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02091.htm

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02092.htm

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02093.htm

Origen

Origen, “the most prolific and learned of all Christian writers before the Council of Nicaea,” was born in the late second century (185 or 186) and lived until the middle of the third century (254-255).[22] “[Origen] may rightly be considered the first great synthetic thinker of Christianity.”[23] He “attempted a fusion of Christian doctrine with Platonic and neo-Platonic philosophy”;[24] however, he did so to an extent that sadly led him into doctrinal error in various ways. For instance, he thought God created by necessity rather than freely, he believed in the pre-embodied existence of souls, and he thought that all souls (even those banished to hell) would eventually find communion with God.[25]

Audio reading of Origen’s On Prayer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfOGrCMdONs

Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius, a historian of the Church, lived from ca. 265 to 339 or 340. He, too, thought that Greek philosophy (though fallible) acted as a preparation for Christianity. He was open to either possibility as far as whether Plato derived his teachings from the Old Testament or was inspired by God on his own; regardless, he analogized some of Plato’s thoughts with Christian teachings. However, he did lean toward the idea that only “direct illumination” by God could ultimately bring one to the truth, with additional “human speculation” doing nothing more than distorting this truth, a view that would be rejected overall in Scholasticism.[26]

Link to the audio reading playlist of Eusebius’ History of the Christian Church:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCB020C9B0DADDB5C

St. Gregory of Nyssa

St. Gregory lived from around 335-395. He believed that, though we could not reach doctrines of faith by way of reason, we could provide logical bases for these beliefs—which he attempted to do for such things as God’s existence and the Trinity: e.g.,

“God must have a Logos, a word, a reason. He cannot be less than man, who also has a reason, a word. But the divine Logos cannot be something of fleeting duration. [sic] it must be eternal, just as it must be living. The internal word in man is a fleeting accident, but in God there can be no such thing: the Logos is one in Nature with the Father, for there is but one God, the distinction between the Logos and the Father, the Word and the Speaker, being a distinction of relation.”[27]

He seems to adhere as a general rule to the idea that God must have in Himself everything that He creates; for instance, He even thinks that material creation must have a nonmaterial basis, due to the fact that God Himself (its Creator) is not material.[28]

He rightly understood that God created the world of His own free will; yet, he would have agreed with Origen on the idea of all creatures (even those in hell) at some point eventually becoming reconciled with God.[29]

Link to audiobook of St. Gregory of Nyssa’s On The Soul And The Resurrection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPk15-btO1s

St. Ambrose

St. Ambrose, who lived from around 333-397, had as his main focuses “practical and ethical matters.”[30] While he himself didn’t significantly further these disciplines, he had a strong influence on later philosophers (perhaps most notably St. Augustine[31]).

Link to the YouTube playlist of St. Ambrose’s On the Duties of the Clergy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFk-xtzkVDM&list=PLttf8KPiXfw8-Dek7cR-Dc36g4e4Hgg55

St. John Damascene

Though St. John Damascene died in ca. 749, Fr. Copleston stills places him among the Patristic philosophers (prior to his lengthy discussion of St. Augustine). He is known for his systematization of theology, to the point where he might be considered “the Scholastic of the Orient.” He was among those who believed “that philosophy and profane science are the instruments or handmaids of theology.”[32]

Link to YouTube audio reading of homilies by St. John Damascene on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfxIq6P-rcw

---

[1] cf. Alan Schreck. Ph.D., The Compact History of the Catholic Church, revised ed. (Cincinnati, OH: Servant Books, 2009), 62.

[2] see John Vidmar, OP, The Catholic Church through the Ages: A History, Kindle edition.

[3] Jon Kirwan, class lecture on Boethius, Pt. 3 (Cromwell, CT: Holy Apostles College & Seminary, distributed 16 January 2017).

[4] Some of the Fathers, however, did not; see Frederick Copleston, S.J., A History of Philosophy: Volume II: Medieval Philosophy: From Augustine to Duns Scotus (New York, New York; Image, 1993), 29.

[5] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 16.

[6] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 16; see also 17.

[7] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 18.

[8] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 19.

[9] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 20.

[10] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 22.

[11] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 22.

[12] see Johann Peter Kirsch, “St. Hippolytus of Rome,” in The Catholic Encyclopedia, at New Advent (8 March 2017), at www.newadvent.org.

[13] “Popes of the Roman Catholic Church” (table), in Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6^th ed., at Academic Search Premier.

[14] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 23.

[15] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 24.

[16] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 25, 23.

[17] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 23.

[18] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 25.

[19] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 25.

[20] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 26.

[21] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 26-27.

[22] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 27.

[23] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 28.

[24] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 28.

[25] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 27-28.

[26] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 31; see also 29-30.

[27] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 32; see also 31.

[28] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 34.

[29] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 33-34.

[30] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 37.

[31] see Copleston, History of Philosophy, 37, and F3thinker !, “Giants of Philosophy – St Augustine,” at YouTube (9 March 2017), at www.youtube.com.

[32] Copleston, History of Philosophy, 38.