The
Angelicum has its roots in the Dominican mission to study and to teach truth. This mission is reflected in the order's motto, "
Veritas". The distinctively
pedagogical character of the Dominican apostolate as intended by
Saint Dominic de Guzman in 1214 at the birth of the order, "the first order instituted by the Church with an academic mission", is succinctly expressed by another of the Order's mottos,
contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere, (to contemplate and to bear the fruits of contemplation to others).
Pope Honorius III approved the
Order of Preachers in December 1216 and January 1217. On 21 January 1217 the
papal bull Gratiarum omnium confirmed the Order's pedagogical mission by granting its members the right to preach universally, a power formerly dependent on local
episcopal authorization.
Medieval origin (1222): the Santa Sabina studium conventuale Saint Dominic established
priories focused on study and preaching that became the Order's first
studia generalia, at the
Parisian convent of St. Jacques in 1217, at
Bologna in 1218, at
Palencia and
Montpellier in 1220, and at
Oxford before his death in 1221. By 1219
Pope Honorius III had invited Dominic and companions to take up residence at the ancient Roman
basilica of
Santa Sabina, which they did by early 1220. In May 1220 at Bologna the Order's first
General Chapter mandated that each convent of the Order maintain a
studium. The official foundation of the Dominican
studium conventuale at Rome, which would grow into the
Angelicum, occurred with the legal transfer of the Santa Sabina complex from
Pope Honorius III to the
Order of Preachers on 5 June 1222. St.
Hyacinth of Poland and companions
Bl. Ceslaus, Herman of Germany, and Henry of Moravia were among the first to study at the
studium of Santa Sabina where "sacred studies flourished". From its beginning the Santa Sabina
studium played the special role of frequently providing papal theologians from among its members. Since its institution in 1218 the office of
Master of the Sacred Palace has always been entrusted to a Friar of the Order of Preachers. In 1218 Saint Dominic was appointed as the first Master of the Sacred Palace by
Pope Honorius III. In 1246
Pope Innocent IV appointed
Annibaldo degli Annibaldi (c. 1220 – 1272) third
Master of the Sacred Palace after Saint Dominic and
Bartolomeo di Breganze. Annibaldi had completed his initial studies at the Santa Sabina
studium conventuale and was later sent to the
studium generale at Paris. Aquinas dedicated to Annibaldi the
Catena aurea, which he wrote during his regency at the Santa Sabina
studium beginning in 1265.
1265: studium provinciale Angelicus, Saint
Thomas Aquinas, by
Gentile da Fabriano c. 1400 At the general chapter of
Valenciennes in 1259
Thomas Aquinas together with masters Bonushomo Britto, Florentius,
Albert, and
Peter took part in establishing a program of studies for novices and lectors including two years of philosophy, two years of fundamental theology, church history and
canon law, and four years of theology. Those who showed capacity were sent on to a
studium generale to complete this course becoming
lector,
magister studentium,
baccalaureus, and
magister theologiae. The new formation program outlined at Valenciennes featured the study of philosophy as an innovation. "In the early days there was no need to study philosophy or the arts in the Order; young men entered already trained in the humanities at the university. St. Albert received his arts training at Padua, St. Thomas at Naples; they were prepared to study theology. By 1259, however, it became evident that youths entering the Order were not sufficiently trained; the new
ratio studiorum of 1259 established
studia philosophiae in certain provinces corresponding to the university faculty of arts." In February 1265 newly elected
Pope Clement IV summoned Aquinas to Rome as papal theologian. That same year in accord with the injunction of the
Chapter of the Roman province at
Anagni, Aquinas was assigned as
regent master at the
studium at
Santa Sabina: We assign Friar Thomas of Aquino to Rome, for the remission of his sins, there to take over the direction of studies. With this assignment the
studium at Santa Sabina, which had been founded in 1222, was transformed into the Order's first
studium provinciale with courses under Aquinas' direction beginning 8 September 1265 and featuring
studia philosophiae as prescribed by Aquinas and others at the 1259 chapter of Valenciennes. This
studium was an intermediate school between the
studium conventuale and the
studium generale. "Prior to this time the Roman Province had offered no specialized education of any sort, no arts, no philosophy; only simple convent schools, with their basic courses in theology for resident friars, were functioning in Tuscany and the meridionale during the first several decades of the order's life. But the new
studium at Santa Sabina was to be a school for the province," a
studium provinciale.
Tolomeo da Lucca, associate and early biographer of Aquinas, tells us that at Santa Sabina Aquinas taught the full range of philosophical subjects, "teaching in a new and special way almost the whole of philosophy, both moral and natural, but especially ethical and mathematical, as well as in writing and commentary." While
Regent master at the Santa Sabina
studium provinciale Aquinas began to compose his monumental work, the
Summa theologiae, conceived of as a work suited to beginning students:Because a doctor of catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but to him pertains also to instruct beginners. as the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 3: 1-2,
as to infants in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat, our proposed intention in this work is to convey those things that pertain to the Christian religion, in a way that is fitting to the instruction of beginners. At Santa Sabina Thomas composed the entire
Prima Pars circulating it in Italy before departing for his second regency at Paris (1269–1272).
Other works composed by Aquinas during this period at Santa Sabina include the
Catena aurea in Marcum, the
De rationibus fidei, the
Catena aurea in Lucam, the
Quaestiones disputate de potentia Dei, which report the disputations Aquinas held at Santa Sabina, the
Quaestiones disputate de anima, which were held during the academic year 1265–66,
Expositio et lectura super epistolas Pauli Apostoli, the
Compendium theologiae, the
Responsio de 108 articulis, part of the
Quaestiones disputatae de malo, the
Catena aurea in Ioannem, the
De regno ad regem Cypri, the
Quaestiones disputatae de spiritualibus creaturis, and at least the first book of the
Sententia Libri De anima, a commentary on Aristotle's
De anima. This work by Aristotle was contemporaneously being translated from the Greek by Aquinas' Dominican confrere
William of Moerbeke at
Viterbo in 1267. by
Tommaso da Modena, 1352 The so-called "lectura romana" or "alia lectura fratris Thome", a
reportatio of the second commentary on the
Sentences of Peter Lombard dictated by Aquinas at the Santa Sabina
studium provinciale, may have been taken down by Jacob of Ranuccio while a student of Aquinas there from 1265 to 1268. Jacob later was lector at Santa Sabina and served in the
Roman Curia being made bishop in 1286, the year of his death. Nicholas Brunacci (1240–1322) was among Aquinas' students at the Santa Sabina
studium provinciale and later at Paris. In November 1268 he accompanied Aquinas and his associate and secretary
Reginald of Piperno from
Viterbo to Paris to begin the academic year. Albert the Great, Brunacci's teacher at
Cologne after 1272, called him "the second Thomas Aquinas." Brunacci became lector at the Santa Sabina
studium and later served in the
papal curia. He was a correspondent by letter with
Dante Alighieri during the latter's exile from Florence.
1288: studium particularis theologiae, 1291 studium nove logice, 1305 studium naturarum by
Tommaso da Modena, 1352. Aycelin served as a lector at
Santa Sabina before 1288 when he was made Cardinal. After the departure of Aquinas for Paris in 1268 other lectors at the
Santa Sabina studium include
Hugh Aycelin. In 1288 the theology component of the provincial curriculum was relocated from the
Santa Sabina studium provinciale to the
studium conventuale at Santa Maria sopra Minerva which was redesignated as a
studium particularis theologiae. During this period lectors at the Santa Maria sopra Minerva
studium included
Niccolò da Prato,
Bartolomeo da San Concordio, and
Matteo Orsini. Following the curriculum of studies laid out in the capitular acts of 1291 the
Santa Sabina studium was redesignated as one of three
studia nove logice intended to offer courses of advanced logic covering the
logica nova, the Aristotelian texts recovered in the West only in the second half of the 12th century, the
Topics,
Sophistical Refutations, and the
First and Second Analytics of Aristotle. This was an advance over the
logica antiqua, which treated the
Isagoge of Porphyry,
Divisions and
Topics of Boethius, the
Categories and
On Interpretation of Aristotle, and the
Summule logicales of
Peter of Spain. In 1305 the Minerva
studium became one of four
studia naturarum established in the Roman province. Iacopo Passavanti, famed preacher and author of the
Specchio di vera penitenza, was lector at the
studium at Santa Maria sopra Minerva after finishing his studies in Paris c. 1333.
1426: studium generale , 1748, detail showing: (837)
Pantheon, (842)
Piazza della Minerva, and the
Insula Sapientiae (Island of Wisdom) aka
Insula Dominicana including (844) Church and Convent of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva and former College of St. Thomas, including (843)
Palazzo della Minerva c. 1560 (now
Bibliotecca del Senato of the Italian government),
Guidetti Cloister c. 1565 (nearest to Church),
Cisterna Cloister,
Sala del Refettorio, ''Sale dell'Inquisizione
, and Sala delle Capriate'' (former library of the College of St. Thomas) on the second floor between cloisters. The
General Chapter of 1304 mandated each of the Order's provinces establish a
studium generale to meet the demand of the Order's rapidly growing membership. The
studium at
Santa Maria sopra Minerva was raised to the level of
studium generale for the Roman province of the Order by the year 1426 and continued in this roll until 1539. It would again be affirmed as a
studium generale in 1694 (see below). On 7 March 1457, the feast of St. Thomas, humanist
Lorenzo Valla delivered the annual
encomium in honor of the "angelic doctor." The Dominicans of the Minerva
studium generale pressed Valla not only to praise Aquinas but to voice his
humanist criticism of scholastic thomism.
Sisto Fabri served as professor of theology at the
Santa Maria sopra Minerva studium in the mid-1550s. In 1585 Fabri, who was
Master of the Order of Preachers from 1583 to 1598 would undertake a reformation of the program of studies for the Order and for the
studium which had been transformed into the College of St. Thomas in 1577. Fabri's reform included a nine-year formation program consisting of two years of logic using the
Summulae logicales of
Peter of Spain alongside Aristotle's logic, three years of philosophy including the study of Aristotle's
De anima,
Physica, and
Metaphysica, and four years of theology using the third part of Aquinas'
Summa for speculative theology, and the second part for moral theology. Fabri also established a professorship for the study of Hebrew at the college.
Modern history (1577): Collegium Divi Thomae The late sixteenth century saw the
studium at
Santa Maria sopra Minerva undergo further transformation during the pontificate of
Pope Gregory XIII. Aquinas, who had been canonized in 1323 by Pope
John XXII, was proclaimed fifth Latin
Doctor of the Church by
Pius V in 1567. To honor this great doctor, in 1577
Juan Solano, former bishop of
Cusco, Peru, generously funded the reorganization of the
studium at the convent of the Minerva on the model of the
College of St. Gregory at Valladolid in his native Spain. The features of this Spanish model included a fixed number of Dominican students admitted on the basis of intellectual merit, dedicated exclusively to study in virtue of numerous dispensations from other duties, and governed by an elected Rector. The result of Solano's initiative, which underwent further structural change shortly before Solano's death in 1580, was the
Collegium Divi Thomae or College of St. Thomas. At the Minerva, the college occupied several existing convent structures as well as new constructions. A detail from the
Nolli Map of 1748 gives some idea of the disposition of buildings when the Minerva convent housed the college. The college cultivated the doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas as a means of carrying out the Church's mission in the
New World, where Solano had shown "much zeal in defending the rights of the Indians", and where Dominicans like
Bartolomé de las Casas, "
Protector of the Indians",
Pedro de Cordova, critic of the
Encomienda system, and
Francisco de Vitoria, theorist of international law, were already engaged. At the beginning of the seventeenth century several regents of the College of St. Thomas were involved in controversies over the nature of
divine grace.
Diego Alvarez (1550 c.-1635), author of the
De auxiliis divinae gratiae et humani arbitrii viribus and famous apologist for the Thomistic doctrines of grace and
predestination, was professor of theology at the college from 1596 to 1606.
Tomas de Lemos (Ribadavia 1540 – Rome 1629). In 1608 Juan Gonzalez de Albelda, author of the
Commentariorum & disputationum in primam partem Summa S. Thome de Aquino (1621) was regent of studies at the college. In the 1620s Juan Gonzales de Leon was regent Concerning the dispute on the nature of
divine grace he took up an alternative doctrine within the Thomist school, that of Juan Gonzalez d'Albeda regent at the college in 1608, that "sufficient grace not only prepares the will for a perfect act [of contrition], but also gives the will an impulse towards that act. Yet due to man's defectability that impulse is always resisted." The college maintained the Dominican tradition of textual and linguistic activities as part of the Order's missionary dimension. Like
Moerbeke's translations of Aristotle in the 1260s and the
editio piana of 1570 (see above), editorial and translation projects were undertaken by the college's professors, the most notable of which would be the
leonine edition of Aquinas' works (see below).
Vincenzo Candido (1573-1654) presided over the
translation of the Bible into Arabic. Candido had entered the Order at the convent of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva completing there his novitiate and studies and becoming a doctor of theology, and later rector of the college in 1630. Candido also was part of the commission that concemned
Jansenism. His own
Disquisitionibus moralibus (1643) was later accused of
laxims.
Giuseppe Ciantes (d. 1670), a leading Hebrew expert of his day and author of works such as the
De sanctissima trinitate ex antiquorum Hebraeorum testimonijs euidenter comprobata (1667) and
De Sanctissima incarnatione clarissimis Hebraeorum doctrinis...defensa (1667), completed his studies at the college was professor of theology and philosophy there before 1640. "In 1640 Ciantes was appointed by Pope Urban VIII to the mission of preaching to the Jews of Rome (
Predicatore degli Ebrei) in order to promote their conversion." In the mid-1650s Ciantes wrote a "monumental bilingual edition of the first three Parts of Thomas Aquinas'
Summa contra Gentiles, which includes the original Latin text and a Hebrew translation prepared by Ciantes, assisted by Jewish apostates, the
Summa divi Thomae Aquinatis ordinis praedicatorum Contra Gentiles quam Hebraicè eloquitur.... Until the present this remains the only significant translation of a major Latin scholastic work in modern Hebrew."
Tommaso Caccini (1574–1648), one of the principal critics of
Galileo Galilei, was baccalaureaus at the college in 1615. Several figures associated with the college during this period were involved in the defense of the doctrine of
Papal infallibility.
Dominic Gravina, the most celebrated theologian of his day in Italy, was professor of theology at the college in 1610. Gravina was made master of sacred theology by the General Chapter of the Order at Rome in 1608. He wrote
Vox turturis seu de florenti usque ad nostra tempora ... sacrarum Religionum statu (1625) in polemic with
Robert Bellarmine whose
De gemitu columbae (1620) criticized the decadence of religious orders. Gravina, wrote concerning
Papal infallibility: "To the Pontiff, as one (person) and alone, it was given to be the head;" and again, "The Roman Pontiff for the time being is one, therefore he alone has infallibility." In 1630
Abraham Bzovius funded a scholarship for Polish students at the college.
Vicente Ferre (+1682), author of the
Commentaria scholastica in Div. Thomam (1691) as well as of several commentaries on the
Summa Theologica was regent of the college from 1654 to 1672. Ferre was recognized by his contemporaries as one of the leading Thomists of his day. In his
De Fide Ferre writes in defense of
Papal infallibility that Christ said "I have prayed for thee, Peter; sufficiently showing that the infallibility was not promised to the Church as apart from (seorsum) the head, but promised to the head, that from him it should be derived to the Church." In the late seventeenth century figures such as Gregorio Selleri who taught at the college were instrumental in fostering the condemnation of
Jansenism At the general chapter of Rome in 1694
Antonin Cloche, Master General of the Dominican Order, reaffirmed the College of St. Thomas as the
studium generale of the Roman province of the Order.We institute as a
studium generale of this province...the Roman College of St. Thomas at our convent of
Santa Maria sopra MinervaAt this time, the college became an international centre of
Thomistic specialization open to members of various provinces of the
Dominican Order and to other ecclesiastical students, local and foreign. In 1698, Cardinal
Girolamo Casanata,
Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, established the
Biblioteca Casanatense at the Convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. This library was independent of the College of St. Thomas, sponsoring its own Librarians. Casanate also endowed four chairs of learning at the college to foster the study of Greek, Hebrew and Dogmatic Theology. With the papal bull
Pretiosus dated 26 May 1727 Dominican
Pope Benedict XIII granted to all Dominicans major houses of study the right of conferring academic degrees in theology to students outside the Order. In the 1748 General Chapter or the Order at Bologna it was stated that the Thomistic philosophical and theological tradition needed to be revived. In 1757 Master General
Juan Tomás de Boxadors composed a letter to all members of the Order lamenting deviations from Thomistic doctrine, and demanded a return to the teachings of Aquinas. This letter was also published in the General Chapter Acts in Rome 1777. Responding to Boxadors and to the prevailing philosophical rationalism of the Enlightenment, Salvatore Roselli, professor of theology at the Roman College of St. Thomas, published a six volume
Summa philosophica (1777) giving an Aristotelian interpretation of Aquinas validating the senses as a source of knowledge. While teaching at the college Roselli is considered to have laid the foundation for Neothomism in the nineteenth century. According to historian J.A. Weisheipl in the late 18th and early 19th centuries "everyone who had anything to do with the revival of Thomism in Italy, Spain and France was directly influenced by Roselli's monumental work. After the Church's loss of the temporal power in 1870 the Italian government declared the college's vast library national property leaving the Dominicans in charge only until 1884. Vincenzo Nardini (d. 1913) completed his theological and philosophical studies at the college and became lector there in 1855 teaching mathematics, experimental physics, chemistry and astronomy. Nardini reorganized the institute of science founded at the college in 1840 by Albert Gugliemotti. He believed the doctrines of Aquinas to be the only means to reconcile science and faith. Nardini was a founding member of the
Accademia Romana di San Tommaso in 1879. Between 1901 and 1902 he also founded an astronomical observatory on via di Pie' di Marmo in Rome. In 1904 as Provincial of the Order's Roman province he proposed that the college be transformed into an international university. This was accomplished in 1908 by his successors. in the
Villa Borghese gardens, patterned after his original of 1867 in the courtyard of the College of Saint Thomas Gian Battista Embriaco (Ceriana 1829 – Rome 1903) taught at the college. Embriaco was the inventor in 1867 of the
hydrochronometer, examples of which were built in Rome, first in the college's courtyard at the Minerva, and later on the
Pincian Hill and in the
Villa Borghese gardens. Embriaco had presented two prototypes of his invention at the
Paris Universal Exposition in 1867 winning prizes and acclaim. The suppression of religious orders soon hampered the mission of the college. During the French occupation of Rome, from 1797 to 1814, the college was in declined and briefly closed its doors from 1810 to 1815. The Order gained control of the convent once again in 1815. By the late eighteenth century, professors of the college had begun to follow the
Wolffianism and Eclecticism of Austrian Jesuit,
Sigismund von Storchenau and
Jaime Balmes with the aim of engaging modern thought. In response to this trend the General Chapter of 1838 again ordered the revival of
Thomism and the use of the
Summa Theologica at the College of St. Thomas. At the Minerva the Master of the Order issued a directive to re-establish the plan of study that had been in force before the French Revolution following the manual of Salvatore Roselli (1777–83) and prescribing a 5-year study of the
Summa theologica for all degree candidates. The Minerva
studium generale was refurbished, and a new era of Thomism was initiated led by
Tommaso Maria Zigliara and others. After the
Capture of Rome, the final act of the
Risorgimento, the Dominicans were expropriated by the Italian government in virtue of law 1402 of 19 June 1873 and the
Collegium Divi Thomae de Urbe was forced to leave the Minerva. The college continued its work at various locations in Rome. Rector Zigliara, who taught at the college from 1870 to 1879, with his professors and students took refuge with the Fathers of the Holy Ghost at the
French College in Rome, where lectures continued. In 1899 the college was functioning in the Palazzo Sinibaldi, adjacent to the French College and near the Convent of the Minerva. Zigliara was a member of seven Roman congregations, including the
Congregation of Studies and was a founding member of the
Accademia Romana di San Tommaso in 1879.
Zigliara's fame as a scholar at the forefront of the
Neo-Thomist revival was widespread in Rome and abroad. "French, Italian, German, English, and American bishops were eager to put some of their most promising students and young professors under his tuition." Other prominent figures include
Zigliara,
Josef Kleutgen, and
Giovanni Cornoldi. The revival emphasizes the interpretative tradition of Aquinas' great commentators such as
Capréolus,
Cajetan, and
John of St. Thomas. Its focus, however, is less exegetical and more concerned with carrying out the program of deploying a rigorously worked out system of Thomistic metaphysics in a wholesale critique of modern philosophy.
Zigliara was instrumental in recovering the authentic tradition of Thomism from the influence of a tradition of the Jesuits' that was "strongly colored by the interpretation of their own great master Francisco Suárez (d. 1617), who had attempted to reconcile the Aristotelianism of Thomas with the Platonism of Scotus" In response to the disarray of religious educational institutions
Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical
Aeterni Patris of 4 August 1879 called for the renewal of Christian philosophy and particularly the doctrines of Aquinas:We exhort you, venerable brethren, in all earnestness to restore the golden wisdom of St. Thomas, and to spread it far and wide for the defense and beauty of the Catholic faith, for the good of society, and for the advantage of all the sciences.
Pope Leo XIII's
encyclical Aeterni Patris of 1879 was a great impetus to the revival of
neo scholastic Thomism. On 15 October 1879
Leo created the
Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas and ordered publication of a critical edition of the complete works of the
doctor angelicus. Superintendence of the "leonine edition" was entrusted to Zigliara.
Leo also founded the ''Angelicum's
Faculty of Philosophy in 1882 and its Faculty of Canon Law in 1896. The college began once again to gain status and influence. Under Pope Leo XIII Zigliara contributed to the encyclicals Aeterni Patris and Rerum novarum''.
1906: Pontificium Collegium Divi Thomae de Urbe , seated in the middle. To his right sits Pio Alberto Del Corona, the Bishop of
San Miniato. In response to the call for a renewal of Thomism sounded by
Aeterni Patris rectors
Tommaso Maria Zigliara (1833–1893), Alberto Lepidi (1838–1922), and Sadoc Szabó had brought the college to a high degree of excellence. Under the leadership of Szabó the number of subjects taught at the
Angelicum included archeology, geology, paleography, Christian art, biology, mathematics, physics, and astronomy. At the dawn of the twentieth century the Dominican conception of intellectual formation at Rome was again transformed. The general chapters of 1895 (Avila) and 1901 (Ghent) had called for the expansion of the College of St. Thomas to meet the growing educational needs in the modern world. The Chapter of 1904 (
Viterbo) directed
Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier (1832–1916), newly elected
Master General of the Order of Preachers, to develop the college into a
studium generalissimum directly under his authority for the entire Dominican Order:Romae erigatur collegium studiorum Ordinis generalissimum, auctoritate magistri generalis immediate subjectum, in quo floreat vita regularis, et ad quod mittantur fratres ex omnibus provinciis. Building on the legacy of the Order's first Roman
studium at the priory of
Santa Sabina founded in 1222 and the
studium general that had sprung from it by 1426 at
Santa Maria sopra Minerva and that in 1577 became the College of Saint Thomas, Cormier stated his intention to establish this new
studium generalissimum as the principal vehicle of dissemination of orthodox Thomistic thought for both Dominicans and secular clergy. In 1904
Pope Pius X allowed diocesan seminarians to attend the college. He elevated the college to the status of
Pontificium on 2 May 1906, making its degrees equivalent to those of the world's other pontifical universities. By
Apostolic Letter of 8 November 1908, signed on 17 November, the Pope transformed the college into the
Collegium Pontificium Internationale Angelicum, located on Via San Vitale 15. Cormier developed the
Angelicum until his death in 1916, establishing it principal guidelines, giving it his motto as Master General,
caritas veritatis, "the charity of truth." Cormier, also noted for the spiritual quality of his retreats and powerful preaching, was declared
Blessed by
Pope John Paul II on 20 November 1994. In the first half of the twentieth century
Angelicum professors
Édouard Hugon,
Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange and others carried on Leo's call for a
Thomist revival. The core philosophical commitments of the revival, which after Zigliara traditionally are those of the
Angelicum, were later summarized in "Twenty-Four Thomistic Theses" approved by
Pope Pius X. Due to its rejection of attempts to synthesize Thomism with non-Thomistic categories and assumptions neo-scholastic Thomism has sometimes been called "Strict Observance Thomism." In 1909 there were 26 professors. Beyond philosophy and theology subject included archeology, geology, paleography, Christian art, biology, mathematics, physics, and astronomy. In 1917 a professorship in ascetical and mystical theology was created at the
Angelicum expressly for Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange. This was the first of its kind in the world, and Garrigou-Lagrange initiated courses in sacred art, mysticism, and aesthetics in 1918.
Marie-Alain Couturier studied with Garrigou at the Angelicum from 1930 to 1932 before going on to have an instrumental role in liturgical art ventures such as
Henri Matisse's
Vence Chapel and
Le Corbusier's
Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, and the Dominican priory of
Sainte Marie de La Tourette. Garrigou-Lagrange has been called "torchbearer of orthodox Thomism" against
Modernism in the period between World War II and the Cold War. He is commonly held to have influenced the decision in 1942 to place the privately circulated book
Une école de théologie: le Saulchoir (Étiolles 1937) by
Marie-Dominique Chenu on the Vatican's "Index of Forbidden Books" as the culmination of a polemic within the
Dominican Order between the
Angelicum supporters of a speculative scholasticism and the French revival Thomists who were more attentive to historical hermeneutics, such as
Yves Congar. Congar's
Chrétiens désunis was also suspected of modernism because its methodology derived more from religious experience than from syllogistic analysis. Noted philosopher and theologian Santiago Maria Ramirez y Ruiz de Dulanto (1891–1967) completed his licentiate and doctorate in philosophy at the
Angelicum from 1913 to 1917 with a dissertation entitled
De quidditate Incarnationis, becoming lector on 27 June 1917 and teaching there from 1917 to 1920. Ramirez relates that he was fortunate during his student years to hear
Pope Pius X deliver a talk to the professors and students at the
Angelicum on 28 June 1914 in which the Pontiff extolled Aquinas' doctrines above those of all others, and another talk delivered by
Pope Pius XI at the
Angelicum on 12 December 1924 in which he reaffirmed the doctrinal authority of St. Thomas Aquinas. 29 June 1923 on the occasion of the sixth centenary of the canonization of
Thomas Aquinas Pius XI's encyclical
Studiorum ducem singled out the Pontifical Angelicum College as the official
sedes Thomae:It will be fitting...that the institutes where sacred studies are cultivated express their holy joy, before all the Pontifical Angelicum College where Thomas could be said to dwell in his own house, and then all the other ecclesiastical schools that are in Rome. The reputation of the college during this period was summed up by one of the ''Angelicum's
most illustrious alumni and faculty members in the mid-twentieth century, Cornelio Fabro, who called the Angelicum
the "avant-garde of the doctrinal mission of the Dominican Order in Rome, and of traditional Thomism whose distinguished exponents included T. Zigliara, A. Lepidi, T. Pègues, E. Hugon, A. Zacchi, R. Garrigou-Lagrange, and M. Cordovani." The notoriety of the college was further fostered by annual celebrations of the Feast of its patron St. Thomas Aquinas including a "preaching tridiuum", a pontifical Mass and an academic symposium at the Angelicum
8 June 1923 Szabó founded Unio thomistica
, an association of Angelicum
students and alumni dedicated to defense of Thomistic doctrine. Its publication originally entitled Unio thomistica
would continue under the title Angelicum'', a trimesterly journal with articles in Italian, French, English, German, and Spanish treating theology, philosophy, canon law, and social sciences. at center left, and the former Dominican convent that now houses the
Angelicum at center right|center The year 1926 saw the
Angelicum become an institute with its change of name to
Pontificium Institutum Internationale Angelicum. During the academic year 1927–28
Angelicum professor Mariano Cordovani began a
Philosophy Circle that continued into the 1960s as a forum for laity to explore contemporary philosophical issues. In 1927 the Italian government decided to sell the former convent of
Santi Domenico e Sisto. The convent, which had been established by
Pope Pius V for Dominican nuns in 1575, was expropriated by the Italian government on 9 September 1871 in virtue of the law of suppression of religious orders.
Blessed Buenaventura García de Paredes, Master General of the Order, seeing the opportunity to recuperate the Dominican patrimony, suggested to
Benito Mussolini that selling the convent to the Order would return the property to its original owners, and that it could be used to house the
Angelicum By decree of 2 June 1928 the Italian Minister of Justice authorized the College of St. Thomas to purchase from the Italian State for the agreed price of nine million lire (L. 9,000,000) the complex of buildings constituting the former convent of Saints Dominic and Sixtus In this way Paredes activated Cormier's plan for the
Angelicum to be established at a site whose amplitude was more fitting to its new status. In 1930
Étienne Gilson and
Jacques Maritain were the first two philosophers to receive honorary doctorates from the
Angelicum. For the academic year 1928–1929 Paredes celebrated the inaugural Mass in the
Church of Saints Dominic and Sixtus and
Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange gave the solemn inaugural lecture. Because the convent buildings required extensive renovation classes were not held there until 1932. From 1928 to 1932 the convent was renovated to house classrooms, an
aula magna and an
aula minor, amphitheaters with seating capacities of 1,100 and 350 respectively. In November 1932 the
Angelicum opened its doors at the appropriately more extensive complex of buildings comprising the ancient Dominican convent of Saints Dominic and Sixtus. Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli the future
Pope Pius XII gave a lecture at the college entitled "La Presse et L'Apostolat" on 17 April 1936. The
Angelicum changed names once again in 1942 becoming the
Pontificium Athenaeum Internationale Angelicum. In 1951 the Institute of Social Sciences was founded within the Faculty of Philosophy by
Raimondo Spiazzi (1918–2002). Spiazzi, a prolific author and editor of the works of Aquinas, completed his doctorate in Sacred Theology at the
Angelicum in 1947 with a dissertation entitled '' "Il cristianesimo perfezione dell'uomo
. Spiazzi directed the Institute of Social Sciences until 1957 and continued teaching there until 1972. This Institute was established as the Faculty Faculty of Social Sciences (FASS) in 1974. Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec, leading exponent of the Lublin School of Philosophy in Poland, received a doctorate in theology from the Angelicum'' in 1948. In 1950 the ''Angelicum's
Institute of Spirituality was founded by Paul-Pierre Philippe within the Faculty of Theology to promote scientific and systematic study of ascetical and mystical theology, and to offer preparation for spiritual directors. The institute was approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education on 1 May 1958. The poet Paul Murray was director, followed by Michael Sherwin, OP, professor of Moral Theology at the Angelicum''.
1963: Pontificia Studiorum Universitas a Sancto Thoma Aquinate in Urbe Enrollment climbed from 120 in 1909 to over 1,000 during the 1960s. During the tenure of Aniceto Fernández as
Master of the Order of Preachers (1962–1974) and the rectorate of Raymond Sigmond (1961–1964)
Pope John XXIII visited the
Angelicum on 7 March 1963, the feast of the university's patron Saint
Thomas Aquinas and with the
motu proprio Dominicanus Ordo, raised the
Angelicum to the rank of
pontifical university. Thereafter it would be known as the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the city (). On 29 November 1963, Egyptian scholar and
peritus at Vatican II for Christian–Islamic relations Georges Anawati delivered a lecture entitled at the
Angelicum "L'Islam a l'heure du Concile: prolegomenes a un dialogue islamo-chretien." On 19 April 1974
Pope Paul VI delivered an allocution in the ''Angelicum's
Aula Magna as part of the International Congress of the International Society of St. Thomas Aquinas celebrated on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the death of the Doctor Angelicus''. The Pontif described Aquinas as a teacher of the art of thinking well and expounded his doctrine proposing Aquinas as an unsurpassed master. On 17 November 1979, one year into his papacy,
Pope John Paul II visited his alma mater to deliver an address marking the first centenary of the encyclical
Aeterni Patris. The Pontiff reaffirmed the centrality of Aquinas' thought for the Church and the unique role of the
Angelicum, where Aquinas is "as in his own home (
tamquam in domo sua)," in carrying on the Thomist philosophical and theological tradition. On 24 November 1994, four days after beatifying
Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier,
Pope John Paul II visited the
Angelicum and gave an address to faculty and students on the occasion of the dedication of the university's
Aula Magna in his honor. On 18 May 2020, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pope John Paul II the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture was established within the Faculty of Philosophy. The Institute was founded thanks to the support of private donors. It carries out several research, academic, educational and cultural projects to deepen knowledge of the intellectual and spiritual heritage of the pope and foster understanding of key problems facing the Church and the world today, in the light of his teaching. The Institute offers the JP2 Studies program – a one-year, interdisciplinary diploma for clergy, religious and laity. The professors teaching at the JP2 Studies program are, i.e.: Helen Alford, O.P., George Weigel, Jarosław Kupczak, O.P., Rémi Brague.
The Angelicum today Today the faculty and students of the
Angelicum strive to be "modern disciples of Thomas Aquinas", "accepting all the radical changes" of the modern world "but without compromise" to the ideals of their patron
Thomas Aquinas.
Angelicum alumnus and famed historian and philosopher James A. Weisheipl notes that since the time of Aquinas "Thomism was always alive in the
Dominican Order, small as it was after the ravages of the Reformation, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic occupation." While outside the order
Thomism has had varying fortunes, the
Angelicum has played a central role throughout its history in preserving
Thomism since the time of Aquinas' own activity at the
Santa Sabina studium provinciale. Today the
sedes Thomae continues to provide students and scholars with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the authentic Dominican Thomistic philosophical and theological tradition. As of August 2014 the student body comprised approximately 1010 students coming from 95 countries. About one half of the ''Angelicum's'' students are enrolled in the faculty of theology. As of August 2014 the student body consisted of approximately 29% women, 71% men. Of these, approximately 24% were lay, 27% were diocesan clerical, and 49% were members of religious orders. Moreover, 30% of the student body hailed from North America, 25% from Europe, 21% from Asia, 12% from Africa, 11% from Latin America, and 1% from Oceania. Some comparatively recent notable figures associated with the
Angelicum include
Cornelio Fabro, Jordan Aumann, Cardinal
Christoph Schönborn,
Aidan Nichols,
Wojciech Giertych,
Theologian of the Pontifical Household under
Pope Benedict XVI and
Pope Francis, and Bishop
Charles Morerod, past
Rector Magnificus of the
Angelicum and former Secretary of the
International Theological Commission, Alejandro Crosthwaite, OP, Dean of the
Angelicum Faculty of , and Consultant to the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Robert Christian, Vice-Dean of the faculty of theology, professor of sacramental theology and ecclesiology, and Consultant to the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Dr. Donna Orsuto, professor of spirituality, is rector of the
Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas and was recently created a
Dame of the
Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict. ==Academics==