Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/382

 SUJVIMER

334

SUMMER

of theology and philosophy. In the stricter sense of the word, "Summa" is applied to the more technical systematic compendiums which began to appear in the twelfth century. An alternative title is "Sen- tences" {Libri Sententiarum), the diminutive, "Sum- mulse", being of later origin. What is peculiar to these "summists" or " sententiaries ", as the authors of these works are called, is the adoption of the method first suggested by Gerbert in his "De Ration- ali et Ratione Uti", and used by Abelard in his "Sic et Non". This consisted in an expo.sition of con- tradictory views, the affirmative and negative; and progress towards the final form of the thirteenth- century "Summae" is marked by the greater care which was taken, as time went on, to explain in a systematic manner the apparent contradiction among the conflicting opinions presented. Besides this method of exposition, the twehth-century summists adopted dialectic definitely as a means of elucidating, not only philosophical, but also theological truth. Finally the summists adopted more or less unani- mously a fixed division of the field of theology and philosophy, and adhered more or less closely to a definite order of topics. Here, of course, there was room for individual preferences in the matter of ar- rangement and sequence of problems, as we see when we compare with one another the "Summse" even of the latest period of Scholasticism.

The first great summist was Peter Lombard (died 1160), author of the "Books of Sentences" and sur- named "Master of Sentences". The order of topics in the "Books of Sentences" is as follows: In the first place, the topics are divided into res and signa, or things and signs. "Things" are subdivided into I. The object of our happiness, God — to this topic Peter devotes the first book; II. Means of attaining this object, viz., creatures — the topic treated in the second book; III. Virtues, men, and angels, that is, special means of happiness and subjects of happiness — the topic of the third book. The fourth book is devoted to signs, namely, the sacraments. How far Peter Lombard was influenced by earlier summists, such as Robert Pullen, Hugh of St. Victor, and the author of the "Summa Sententiarum" which was immediately inspired by Abelard's work, historians have not de- termined. It is generally admitted that the Lom- bard was not entirely original. He deserves his re- nown as the first great summist chiefly because, in spite of the opposition which his work met during his lifetime, its influence grew greater in time, until in the thirteenth century it was universally adopted as a text. Notwithstanding all that hostile critics of Scholasticism have said about the dryness and unat- tractiveness of the medieval "Summse", these works have many merits from the point of view of pedagogy, and a philosophical school which supplements, as Scholasticism did, the compendious treatment of the "Summie" with the looser form of treatment of the "QuaestionesDisputatse" and the "Opuscula", unites in its method of writing the advantages which modern philosophy derives from the combination of textbook and doctor's dissertation. For a description of the "Summa Theologica" of St. Thomas, the most per- fect specimen of this kind of literature, see Thomas Aquinas, Saint. The term "Summute" was used, for the most part, to designate the logical compendiums which came to be adopted as texts in the schools dur- ing the thirteenth century. The best known of these is the "Sununuke I.ogicales" of Peter Hispanus, after- wards Po])(' .John XXI.

De Wn.K, Ih.slonj til Medieval Philosophy, tr. Coffky (New York. lUO'J); Gn.tBMANN, Gesch. der schol. Methode (FrciburK,

1000). William TrRNER.

Summer Schools, Catholic. — A Catholic summer school is an as.spmbly of Catholic clergy and laity held during the summer months to foster intcll(M'lual culture in harmony with Christian faith by means of

lectures and special coiu-ses along university e.xten- sion fines. It first took form in the Champlain Sum- mer School which was founded at New London, Con- necticut, 1892, and located permanently in 1893 at Clitf Haven, N. Y. The Columbian Summer School was established at Madison, Wisconsin, 1895, and is now permanently located at IMilwaukee; the Winter school of New Orleans was founded in 1896, and the Maryland Summer School in 1900. This interesting feature of Catholic intellectual and sociological work in the United States is the natural development and coalescence of various tendencies previously existing in the Church, viz., reading circles, university exten- sion, summer institutes.

(a) The reading circle has its germ in the Christian family. St. Philip Neri strongly urged the advantage of reading circles for people in the world. As a stu- dent at the Sorbonne, Frederick Ozanam organized a circle of this nature which was the origin of the Con- ference of St. Vincent de Paul. In the United States the reading circle appeared during the early part of the last century in the young men's lyceums where courses of lectures and literary exercises were held. In 1S64 Very Rev. Isaac Hecker founded a hbrary in connexion with the Sunday-school of St. Paul's Church, New York City, and prescribed that the reading and discussion of a book should form part of the Sunday-school class. Thus each class became a reading circle. The graduates of this Sunday- school formed in 1886 a reading circle, in the special sense of the term, called The Ozanam; its members meet weekly. In 1885 the Young Ladies' Sodality of Youngstown, Ohio, established a reading circle. In Dec, 1888, Miss Julia Perkins of Milwaukee strongly advocated through the "Catholic World" the establishment of these circles in every parish. Warren Mosher took up the work, and in April, 1889, organized the Catholic Educational Union. In June, 1889, the Paulisfs founded the Columbian Reading Union with Rev. Thomas McMillan as president. These unions have for their aim the propagation and tmification of reading circles. The movement spread, and in Jan., 1891, the "Catholic Reading Circle Review" was established by I\Ir. Mosher as the organ of reading circles; it afterwards became the organ of the summer school. The Catholic Educational Union, the Columbian ReadingUnion, and the "Read- ing Circle Review" were strong advocates of a summer assembly. Thus, in germ, the Cliff Haven Summer School was an annual convention of the members of reading circles.

(b) The purpose of university extension is to bring the university into touch with the people and make its influence of wider scope. This is attained through a body of organized teachers formed from graduates of the university, who travel through the country and give series of lectures; attendance at these lectures with examination may entitle to a university degree. Thus the university is brought to people who other- wise could not have access to it. The phrase itself became current through discussion on university reform in England, begun in 1850, and resulting in the new statutes of 1880. The movement sjjread to America and became a part of American university life. Thus the Cliff Haven Summer School received from the Regents of the University of the State of New York, 9 Feb., 1893, a charter by virtue of which it received legal existence as a corporation imder the laws of the State of New York, and was classified within the system of public instruction devoted to university extension. Under university extension should be included the .\ssociation Catholique de la Jeunes.sc Frani;:iise organized in ISSd, the School of Social Science of Munclien-tdadbach founded in lS9:i under the auspices of the Catholic Volksverein, and the Institute of Social Science established by Aichbishop Farley at New York in 1911.