Blessed Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308)
November 8
John Duns Scotus was one of the most important and
influential philosopher-theologians of the High Middle Ages, within the school
of Scholasticism. His brilliantly complex and nuanced thought earned him the
nickname “the Subtle Doctor.” Certain saints are given the title of and
identified as Doctors of the Church due to their theological contributions. The
title "doctor" means "important teacher." “Scotus” identifies
John as a Scot, with Scotia being Latin for Scotland. His family name
was Duns, which was also the name of the Scottish village in which he was born,
just a few miles from the English border. We do not know the precise date of
his birth, but we do know that Scotus was ordained to the priesthood in the
Order of Friars Minor—the Franciscans—at Saint Andrew’s Priory in Northampton,
England, on 17 March 1291.
Scotus studied philosophy and then theology at Oxford &
Cambridge beginning sometime in the 1280s. He apparently spent about 13 years there
(1288–1301) preparing for inception as master of theology. Scotus left Oxford
for Paris, probably in 1302. Scotus became Doctor of Theology in
1305 and was Franciscan regent master at Paris in 1306–07. Scotus's great work
is his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. His other works
bear the names of the places he taught: The Works of Oxford (Opus Oxoniense)
the Cambridge lectures (Reporatio Cambrigensis), and the Paris
lectures (Reportata Parisiens). Thus, in his academic career and as an
intellectual, he immediately follows fellow Franciscan Bonaventure and
Dominican Thomas Aquinas, who both died in 1274: Thomas at age 48–49 and
Bonaventure at age 52-53.
In an age when too many people adopted whole systems of
thought without qualification, John pointed out the richness of the
Augustinian-Franciscan tradition, appreciated the wisdom of Aquinas, Aristotle,
and the Moslem philosophers, while still managing to be an independent thinker.
Duns Scotus was also known as the “Cantor of the Incarnate
Word” because of his dedication to the central mystery of the faith. In 1307
he very ably defended the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pope Pius IX solemnly defined the Immaculate Conception in 1854, drawing on the
work of John Duns Scotus.
“Dunce” in the early 1500s/16th century became an
epithet for the followers of Scotus. Scotus's opponents criticized his ideas as
too confusing and pedantic. During the Protestant Reformation, Catholic
teachings were criticized, and followers of Scotus were labeled as
intellectually inferior.
John Duns Scotus was not only brilliant, but he was also
very humble and prayerful: the exact combination St. Francis wanted in any
friar who studied. Ideas are important. Scotus placed his best thinking at the
service of the human family and of the Church.
Father Charles Balie, OFM, the foremost 20th-century
authority on Scotus, wrote: “The whole of Scotus’s theology is dominated by the
notion of love. The characteristic note of this love is its absolute freedom.
As love becomes more perfect and intense, freedom becomes more noble and
integral both in God and in people.”
In 1307 Duns Scotus was appointed professor at Cologne. Some
have suggested that Scotus was sent to Cologne for his own safety. Scotus died there
on Nov. 8, 1308, and his German gravesite is adorned with a poem, in Latin,
that reads:
Scotland brought me forth.
England sustained me.
France taught me.
Cologne holds me.
Beatified on March 20, 1993, by Pope John Paul II.
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