Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/811

 PETAU

743

PETAU

clared that he would not be bothered about questions of A B C. In 1804 Pestalozzi, driven out of tlio Cas- tle of Burgdorf, transferred his school to Miiiic-liciilii ifh- see, and thenee to Yverdun. Eager students of jicda- gogy florked to Yvcnlun from Prussia, Russia, France, Italy, Spain, lOnglaiid, and other countries, among the rest Frobcl, llcrbarl, von Raunier, and Ritter. But Pestalozzi's lack of organizing talent and dissensions among his teaching stafT led to the decline and finally to the closing of the establishment (1825).

Pestalozzi's career is almost a puzzle. AH his under- takings proved failures, and yet he is the most influ- ential of modern educators. There was nothing at- tractive in his external appearance. He had read very few books, possessed neither philosophical penetra- tion nor mastery of method, and entirely lacked talent for organization. A keen observer at Yverdun de- clared that he would not have been able to conduct successfully a small village school. That, in spite of all these drawbacks, he exerted a profound influence on modern education was due chiefly to his self-sacri- ficing love for children, and his enthusiasm for educa- tional work. This enthusiasm became an inspiration, almost an infection for all those who came in con- tact with "Father Pestalozzi", as they affectionately called him. He created a new educational spirit, in- terest in education, and a new school atmosphere, namely, love for the children. He himself said that he intended to "psychologize instruction", and he may be called the originator of the modern psychological tendency in education. The foundation of instruction he finds in Anschauung, which has been inadequately rendered in English by "sense-impression" or "ob- servation ' ', and is perhaps better expressed by " intui- tion". The object lesson is the core of the whole system, and exercises are based more on the study of objects than of words. Pestalozzi's system has been severely criticized by some and extravagantly praised by others; his work is overestimated by those who call him the "father of the elementary school", al- though it must be admitted that he did much to im- prove it. Some of his principles involved contradic- tions, not a few of his methods were one-sided and even unsound; but his ideas, stripped of their eccentri- cities by his disciples, became ijrominent features in modern education. Herbart and Frobel supplemented his work — the former by developing the psychology of education, the latter by originating the kindergarten system. The school systems of Prussia and other European states embodied many of Pestalozzi's ideas; in England a moflified Pestalozzianism was carried into practice by Dr. Mayo. Pestalozzian ideas were transplanted to America by one of Pestalozzi's assist- ants, the Alsatian Joseph Neef (wrongly called a priest, e.g. in Schmid's "Gesch. der Erz.", V, ii, 580), who opened a school in Philadelphia in 1808, and later taught at New Harmony, Indiana. Horace Mann was influenced by Pestalozzian principles; so was the "Os- wego Movement", which emphasized the use of ob- jects as the foundation of instruction and greatly determined the character of American normal-school training. "For the most part., so far as principle is con- cerned, American schools are yet upon the Pestaloz- zian basis, though the special methods of applying these principles have been much improved" (Monroe, "Hist.of Ed.", 669).

One of the weakest points in Pestalozzi's system was his attitude towards religion. Through the influ- ence of the writings of Rousseau he had lost the strict religious views of his Calvinist family, and, while he still believed in a personal God and Divine Providence, his was a rationalistic and merely natural religion. Although he always spoke most reverently of the Bible and of Christ, he never attained to a clear recog- nition of the Divinity of Christ, but remained outside dogmatic Christianity. His disciples are divided into two schools — one rationalistic, led by Diesterweg, the

other Christian, which follows Pestalozzian methods of instruction without adopting his religious views. Tci tlic hitter scIkki] belong some prominent Catholic educators, as Bishop Saili-r of Ratisbon and Bernard Overberg, the reformer of education in Westphalia. In dealing with Catholics, and in speaking of things Catholic, Pestalozzi invariably showed tact and con- sideration; he never forgot that he had received kind treatment from Catholics at Stanz at a time when he was distrusted by some and ridiculed as a visionary by others. "You will hardly believe", he wrote to a friend, "that it was the Capuchin Friars and the nuns of the Convent that showed the greatest sympathy with my work."

Tlie vast bibliography on Pestalozzi is collected by Israel in MoiiumentaG€vmani(E P(Edagogica, XXV, XXIX, XXXI; Pesta- lozzi, SdmlUche Werke, ed. Seyffarth (12 volumes, 1899 — ). Many separate editions of Z-ieTiardw. Oertrud, and Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt — English translation (Boston, 1885: Syracuse, 1898) ; ed. BtJRGEL AND Beck, with German notes for Catholic teachers and normal-school pupils (Paderborn. 1887. 1892). Translation of other works and articles of Pestalozzi, in Barnard^ s Journal, II-VII, XIII, XXX, XXXI. Biographies, etc. in English by De GuiMPS (Syracuse, 1889); Kruesi (New York, 1875); Pinloche (New York, 1901); Holman (London and New York, 1908). Consult also Quick, Educational Reformers (New York, 1890); Monroe, Hisl. of Education (New York, 1906). Of the numerous biographies in German, the latest, and probably the best, is that by Heubacm (Berlin, 1910).

Robert Schwickerath.

Petau, Denis (Dionysius Petavius), one of the most distinguished theologians of the seventeenth cen- tury, b. at Orleans, 1.583; d. at Paris, 11 December, 1652. He studied first at Orleans, then at Paris, where he successfully defended his theses for the degree of Master of Arts, not in Latin, but in Greek. After this he followed the theological lectures at the Sorbonne, and, on the advice of Ysambert, successfully applied for the chair of philosophy at Bourges. At Paris he became very intimate ■ndth Isaac Casaubon (see Letters MXXIV, MXXVIII, MXXXVIH, MXLIV), librarian at the BibUotheque Royale, where he spent all his spare time studying the ancient Greek manuscripts. At Orleans he was ordained deacon and presented with a canonry. After spending two years at Bourges he returned to Paris, and en- tered into relations with Fronton du Due, the edi- tor of St. John Chrysostom. In 1605 he became a Jesuit, taught rhetoric at Reims (1609), La Fleche (1613), and at the College of Paris (1618). During this last period he began a correspondence with the Bishop of Orleans, Gabriel de Laubepine (Albaspi- najus), on the first year of the primitive Church. From 1622 he taught positive theology for twenty-two years. During this time he was about to leave France on two occasions — first, to teach ecclesiastical history at Madrid at the invitation of Philip IV (1629), secondly to become a cardinal at Rome where Urban VIII wanted him (1639). At sixty years of age he stopped teaching, but retained his office of librarian, in which he had succeeded Fronton du Due (1623), and consecrated the rest of his life to his great work, the "Dogmata theologica". The virtues of P^tau were not inferior to his talent; he was a model of hu- mility and regularity, and, in spite of his feeble health, practised continual and severe mortifications. His ardent zeal for the Church inspired a rare talent to which his numerous works bear evidence; he devoted himself to the study of literature (Greek and Latin poets) and to other more erudite forms of learning.

The complete list of his works fills twenty-five col- umns in Sommervogel: he treats of chronology, his- tory, philosophy, polemics, patristics, and history of dogma. The first edition of the works of Synesius ap- peared in 1612, undertaken ten years earlier at the advice of Casaubon ("Synesii episcopi Cyrenensis opera", new ed., 1633); in 1613 and 1614 the di.s- cour.ses of Thcini-iiii- ;in.l .Iiili:in (n.'W imI., 1630); in 1616 the "Bn\i:iniiiii In id iciiui Ni.cphori"; then, after some poetical and uraturical works, an edition of