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 CAJETAN

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CAJETAN

on the "Secunda Secundae" (second section of the second part of the "Summa ") of St. Thomas, whose publication he supervised for the author in 1517. The next year, in his refutation of Pompanazzi. Spina ap- pears to have considered Cajetan as falling partly within the scope of his strictures because of certain alleged concessions to the prevalent Averroistic inalism in a commentary on the "De Anima" of Aristotle. Cajetan held that Averroes had correctly exhibited the Stagirite as a believer in monopsychism, or the doctrine of the unity of one intellectual soul for humanity and the mortality of individual souls. Whilst working for, and concurring in the council's condemnation of this doctrine in 1513, Cajetan had not favoured the requirement that in their public lec- tures professors of philosophy should bring up no teachings in conflict with Christian faith without refuting them; this, he contended, was the proper office of theologians. Elsewhere Cajetan had also intimated that reason left to itself could not ade- quately and conclusively demonstrate the soul's im- mortality. From these beginnings. Spina, who dur- ing his later years was Master of the Sacred Palace, relentlessly pursued Cajetan living and dead. On these slender grounds some writers, including Renan (Averroes et 1'Averroisme. Paris, 1867, -151) and Botta (Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, tr. Morris. New York. 1903, II, Appendix IP. have misrepresented Cajetan as "boldly asserting the eternity of the uni- verse and the destruction of personality at death", and have classed him with the very men against whom he wrote, as an initiator of a new ]ieriod in the devel- opment of anti-Scholastic philosophy.

In theology Cajetan is justly ranked as one of the foremost defenders and exponents of the Thomistic school His commentaries on the "Summa Theolo- gica", the first in that extensive field, begun in 1507 and finished 1522. are his greatest work and were speedily recognized as a classic in Scholastic literature. The work is primarily a defence of St. Thomas against the attacks of Scotus. In the third part it reviews the aberrations of the Reformers, especially Luther. The important relation between Cajetan and the Angelic Doctor was emphasized by Leo XIII, when by his Pontifical Letters of 15 Oct., 1879, he ordered the former's commentaries and those of Kerrariensis to be incorporated with the text of the "Summa" in the official Leonine edition of the complete works of Si, Thomas, the first volume of which appeared at Rome in 1SS2. This edition has restored a number of passages which St. Pius V desired to have expunged from the texts, the publication of which he ordered in 15711. The suppressed parts, now for the most part inoffensive, were lamely in the nature of personal views and had no direct bearing on Thomistic doctrine as a i In hisezegeticaJ work begun in 1523 and con- tinued to the time of his death, Cajetan sought to counteract the Biblical extravagances of the Human- ists and to defeat the Lutheran movement on the ground from which it had chosen to reject the author- ity of the ( Ihurch and of tradition. Chiefly with rab- binical assistance, it is said, being himself unversed in Hebrew, and with the aid of current, Greek ver- sion- he prepared a literal translation of the Bible, in- cluding the Old Testament as far as the end of the third chapter of Isaias. and all the Xew Testament except tic Apocalypse, which on account of its diffi- culties he was unwilling to undertake. It was his object, he declared in a dedicatory letter to Ci, VII published in his edition of the Gospels, to ascer- tain the true literal sense of the Scriptures, and he did

not hesitate t,, adopt new renderings, provide, l they did not conflict with the Sacred Word and with the teachings of the church. This position, much criti- cized in his time, is now quite in line with the common method of Catholic exegetica. Though closely fol- lowing St. Jerome on the authenticity of the Biblical

texts and utilizing the New Testament version and notes of Erasmus, with whom he was on friendly terms, he produced a work whose importance was not

overlooked, but whose freedom ami wide departure from the Fathers ami the theological schools created distrust and alarm. In his critical interpretation, for instance, he ventured an allegorical explanation of the first chapters of Genesis, and he seemed more than three centuries in advance of his day in question- ing the authenticity of the last chapter of St. Mark, the authorship of several epistles, viz.. Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, Jude, the genuineness of the passage of the three witnesses (1 John, v, 7), etc. In this field also he was bitterly assailed, es- pecially by Ambrose Catharinus, an extraordinary but erratic genius, who had abandoned the law to enter the Dominican ( h'der, ami had become a bishop. Cajetan's accompanying theological observations, however, are important, and many scholars have profitably studied them in conjunction with his com- mentaries on the "Summa".

It has been significantly said of Cajetan that his positive teaching was regarded as a guide for others and his silence as an implicit censure. His rectitude, candour, and moderation were praised even by his enemies. Always obedient. and submitting his works to ecclesiastical authority, he presented a striking contrast to the leaders of heresy and revolt, whom he strove to save from their folly. To Clement VII he was the "lamp of the Church", and everywhere in his career, as the theological light of Italy, he was heard with respect and pleasure by cardinals, universities, the clergy, nobility, and people. The works of Caje- tan aggregate about 115 tit lis. The commentaries on the several parts of the "Summa" exist in many editions. Of complete editions, sometimes including the text of the "Summa" and sometimes without it, the following are noteworthy: 1(1 vols, fob, Lyons. 15-10: edition of Pius V in complete works of St. Thomas, Rome, 1570; 7 vols. 8vo, with commen- taries of Javelli and Capponi, Venice, 1596; 10 vols, fob, Rome, 177::: Leonine edition of St. Thomas (Summa) Rome. Isss. ( >ther works of Cajetan are:

(I) "Opuscula omnia tribus tomis distincta" (fob, Lyons. 1558; Venice, 1588; Antwerp. L612), a collec- tion of fifty-nine treatises; (2) "Commentaria super traetatum de ente et essentia '['holme de Aquino; super libros posteriorum Aristotelis et prsedica- menta", etc. (fob, Venice, 1506); (3) "In prsdica- bilia Porphyrii. prsedicamenta et libros posteriorum analvt ieoruni Aristotelis castigatissima commen- taria" (8vo, Venice, 1587, 1599); l I "Super libros Aristotelis de Anima", etc. (Rome, L512; Venice, 1511 : Paris, 1539 i; (5) "Summulade peccatis" (Rome, 1525, and in many other corrected and augmented editions); (6) "Jentacula X.T.. expositio literal is sexa- ginta quatuor notabilium sententiarum Nbvi Test " etc. (Rome, 1525); (7) "In quinque libros Mosis juxta sensum lit. commentarii" (Rome, 1531, fob; Paris. 1539); (8) " In libros Jehosus, Judicum, Ruth, Regum. Paralipomenon, Bezra, Nechemiaeet Esther^' (Rome, 153:!: Paris. 1546); (9 "InlibrumJob" I Home, 1535); (10)" In psalmos" (Venice, L530;Paris, 1532);

(II) "In parabolas Salomonis, in Ecclesiasten, in Esaiffl tria priora capita" (Rome, 1542; Lyons, L545; Paris. 1587); (12) "In Evangelia Matt . Marci, Lucas, Joannis" (Venice, 1530 ;t I3)"ln Act;: i.postolorum " [Venice. 1530; Paris (with Gospels), L536]; ill) "In Epistolas Pauli" (Pan-. L532); (15) "Opera omnia quotquot in sacra; Scripture em reperiun- tur, curs' atque Industrie insignia collegii S.Thomce Complutensis, < >.P." (5 vol, fol., Lyons, L639).

Fonsi ' I. Bil : oen to

HARD,

Script Ori. Prod. (P

I pontijimm iiomnnonnn it cnr.i 1675),

III, 392; Touron, Hist 1743), IV, 1-

76; IjMlmimci, hardinal Cajrtnn in Zrilschr. f. knth. Thiol. (Innsbruck, 1SS0). IV, 139-179; Hcrtkr. Nommclator (Inns-