Xll 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, what- 

 ever 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 clearly that all social errors, and conse- 

 quently 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 Aeterni 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." ^ 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 " abun- 

 dantly from those purest streams of wisdom that flow from the 

 Angelic Doctor, as from an inexhaustible and precious foun- 

 tain." " That same pontiff in the year 1880, by his Apostolic 

 Letter Cum hoc sit,^ 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 



^ AAS, XII (1879) , 98. ' Ibid., p. 112. =* AAS, XIII (1880) , 56-59. 



