Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/248

 DURANDUS

208

DURANGO

Durandus of Saint-Pour^ain, philosopher and

theologian, b. at Saint- PourQain, Auvergne, France; d. 13 September, 1332, at Meaux. He entered the Dominican Order at Clermont and obtained the doc- tor's degree at Paris in 1313. John XXII called him to Avignon as Master of the Sacred Palace, where he expounded the Scriptures. In 131S he was conse- crated Bishop of Le Puy-en-^'clay and was transferred to Meaux m 1326. He is known as Doctor Resolutissi- mus owing to his strenuous advocacy of certain opin- ions novel to the Schoolmen of his day. His writinas include commentaries on the "Sentences" (Paris, 1508); " De origine jurisdictionum" (Paris, 1506); and a treatise on the condition of holy souls after their separation from the body. His nominalism was so much opposed to the contemporary philosophic real- ism that the third period of Scholasticism is made to begin with him. He rejects both the sensible and tlie intelligible species, introduced, he says, to e.xplain sense-perception, as also the active intellect. He denies the principle of individuation as distinct from the specific nature of the individual. In theology he argues for a separation of natural knowledge from that obtained through faith and revelation. Certain dog- mas, as that of the Trinity, cannot be shown not to contain impossibilities: but to believe them, withal, increases the merit of faith. Because the miracles of Christ do not prove His Divinity, His acceptance by the faithful enhances the merit of believing. After all, he says, theology is not strictly a science, since it rests on faith, not on the first principles of knowledge. In theology it is sufficient to know the idea of him who, being inspired, cannot err. He teaches, besides, that all actions proceed from God ^\^lo gives the power to act, but this is no immediate influx of the Creator upon the actions of the creature. The sacraments are only causes without which grace is not conferred. Mar- riage is not strictly a sacrament. He also insinuates that Christ could be present in the Eucharist with the substances of bread and wine remaining. Throughout, Durandus shows admirable submission to the correc- tive prerogative of the Church, the exercise of which was not unnecessary. By order of John XXII. the treatise " De statu animarum ' ' was examined and was found to contain eleven errors.

QuETlF AND EcHARD, Script. O. p., I, 586: Stockl, Geschichte der Philosophie im M. A., II, 976; Haureau, De la phUosophie srolastigue, Pt. II (Paris, 1S80), II, 346; Mortier, Hisloire dcs mailres generaux de VOrdre des Freres Prlcheurs (Paris, 1907), III. 68-86; Feret, La facidte de theologie de Paris et ses doc- teurs tes plus celebres, III, 401-408.

Thos. M. Schwertner.

Durandus of Troarn, French Benedictine and ec- clesiastical ■WTiter, b. about 1012, at Le Neubourg near Evreux; d, 10S9, at Troarn near Caen. Affiliated from early childhood to the Benedictine community of Mont-Sainte-Catherine and of Saint- Vandrille, he was made abbot of the newly founded Saint-Martin of Troarn by William. Duke of Normandy, in whose es- teem he stood on a par with Lanfranc, .\nselm, and Gerbert. Ordericus Vitalis calls him ecdesiastici can- tus et dogmatis doctor peritissiTmis. Of his achieve- ments in sacred music we know nothing beyond that mention, but we have his " Liber de Corpore et San- guine Domini" (P. L,, CXLIX, 1375) against Bercn- garius. The ninth and last part of it contains precious historical information about the heresiarch. In Du- randus's mind Bcrengarius is a figurist pure andsimple, after the manner of Scotus Eriugena, whose now lost book he is said to have possessed and used. In the rest of his book Durandus follows Paschasius, whom he somewhat emphatically styles Divini sacrameyiti scru- tntor diligentissimus discussorque calhoUcus, and from whom he borrows both his patristic apparatus and his theological views. Turmel, however, notes that Du- randus quotes new texts of Bede. Amalarius. Fulbert de Chartres, and St. John Chrysostom. His presenta- tion of the Eucharistic dogma is frankly Ambrosian,

i. e. he maintains with Paschasius and Gerbert the conversion of the bread and wine into the identical body and blood of Christ, thus excluding the Augus- tiniau theory of the Pncscntia spiritalis still held by some of his contemporaries and contributing to pre- pare the definition of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). Durandus explains with skill the Augustinian texts, chiefly in the " De doctrina Christiana ' ' and the " Letter to Boniface", misused by Berengarius;but in the last analysis he appeals to the argument of authority already used by Guitmond (P. L., CXLIX, 1415): "The saintly Doctor of Hippo, wearied by the labours of composition, fails at times to clearly bring out his thought. Hence he may appear obscure to the unlearned and even become a source of error. If perchance he should have erred in so great a mystery, we should then bethink ourselves of the Apostolic saying: 'But though an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which you have received, let him be anathema'" (loo. cit., 1415). Durandus wrote also against Bcren- garius a poem of 900 verses, of which twenty-five preface the above treatise and thirteen are quoted in Mabillon's "Annales" (LXIV, 119), the rest being unpublished. Migne (loc. cit.) appends to the "Liber" two epitaphs composed Ijy Durandus, one for Abbot Ainard and the other for the Countess Mabile. (See Berengarius of Tours.)

Ceillier, Hist. .Ir.s nulrurf^ .'^ncrr.i (Paris, 1863\ XIII, 459; Turmel, Hist. ./. !■• /A-' ,., ,,,, (Paris, 1904). I. index; B.a- TlFFOU L'Euchari ' i / I. Ilit'ol. positive ('Pans,1905^, 11,

379; Chevali7:r, / ■ /. - \ . ; Ordericus Vitalis. //tsforia eccl. in F. L. CL.\XX\ 1 1 1. .' is, :,77.

J. F. SOLLIER.

Durango (Durangum), Archdiocese of, located in north-western Mexico. The see was created 28 Sept., 1620, seventy-two years after the Friars Diego de la Cadena and Geronimo de Mendoza had established the San Juan Bautista de Analco mission in the valley of the Sierra Madre. The city of Durango was founded in 1554 by the Spanish captain Ibarra, and served at once as a centre for numerous missionaries, whose efforts to convert the natives were so successful that under Philip III the Diocese of Guadalajara was divided by Paul V, and Durango was raised to epis- copal rank. The first bishop, Gonzalo Hernandez y Hermosillo, devoted much time to the evangelization and spiritual welfare of the Imlians. In the beginning the Diocese of Durango included New Mexico (Santa Fe), Chihuahua, and Sonora; eventually these were made independent sees. Durango was made an arch- diocese by Leo XIII (23June, 1S91), and now includes all the State of Durango and part of Zacatecas, with So- nora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa for suffragans. The first archbishop was Vicente Salinas. Among the remark- able bishops of the see were the scholarly Gorospe, to whom the city owes its canal; the famous writer Le- gaspi, who began the cathedral that was finished and consecrated by Antonio Zubiria y Escalante, and lately decorated anew by .\rchbishop Santiago Zu- biria y Manzanera, The Catholic press is represented by "El Domingo", and the "Boletin Eclesiastico ". Besides the Escuelas Guadalupanas there are two colleges, the Colegio Guadalupano and a College of the Brothers of Mary. The territory of the diocese is quite mountainous and is watered only by a few streams, but is well adapted for grazing. There are many rich mines of gold, silver, and iron. In 1900 the population of the State of Durango was 307,274, that of the city 31,092. The latter, known also as Guadiana and Ciudad de Victoria, stands pictu- resquely at 6700 feet above sea-level, and has several important industries and a large trade in cattle and leather.

Oerarchia Cattolica (Rome. 19081; Battandier, .Inn. Font. Calh. (Paris, 1908); Heilprin, Lippincatt's Gazetteer (Philadel- phia, 1906).

Reginaldo Guereca,