XXIV JAMES A. WEISHEIPL 



phy, particularly that of St. Thomas Aquinas, in all centers 

 of Catholic learning — seminaries, colleges, institutes and uni- 

 versities — that Catholic intellectuals might contribute to the 

 solution of modern problems. The carrying out of this directive 

 was a difficult task. There are some observers today who claim, 

 with considerable justification, that the Leonine directive has 

 never been earned out fully even to this day. However, there 

 were special difficulties in the 1880's. Scholastic philosophy was 

 a philosophy, and ' philosophy ' since the time of Leibniz and 

 Wolff meant metaphysics and ethics. Metaphysics, for Wolff 

 and his innumerable disciples, was divided into general ontology 

 and special ontology, embracing cosmology, psychology and 

 theodicy. Consequently some Catholics fancied that Thomistic 

 philosophy had to be truncated to fit the Procrustean bed of 

 Wolffian metaphysics. Furthermore, the acquisition of scien- 

 tific knowledge is a difficult task, requiring special training and 

 devotion. Professional philosophers in seminaries and universi- 

 ties could hardly be expected to acquire detailed knowledge of 

 highly developed sciences. Consequently it seemed more ex- 

 pedient to let science alone and concentrate on a metaphysical 

 type of cosmology and rational psychology. 



The first university to attempt to fulfill the wishes of Leo 

 XIII was the Catholic University of Lou vain. In a papal brief 

 of December 25, 1880, the bishops of Belgium were directed to 

 establish a chair of Thomistic philosophy. By July, 1882, 

 arrangements had been made with the University, and Canon 

 Desire Mercier, professor of philosophy at the Seminary of 

 Malines, was appointed to the chair. To prepare himself for 

 this new and unique post. Dr. Mercier (with beard and with- 

 out clerical garb) undertook formal training in psychology 

 under the famous Charcot in Paris. At Louvain he followed the 

 formal courses and laboratory work in physiology, neurology, 

 chemistry, mathematics and linguistics. He was convinced that 

 no domain of modem science can be considered foreign to 

 Thomistic philosophy. In 1888 Msgr. Mercier founded, with 

 the enthusiastic approval of the pontiff, the Institut Superleur 



