Catechism of the "Summa Theologica"
Harrison, New York: Roman Catholic Books. Later edition. Small octavo (7 3/4 inches tall), original laminated pictorial boards. Ex-library, sticker removed from foot of spine, small ink-stamps to title page and page 29, embossed blindstamp to corner blank flyleaf, black ink to front and rear pastedowns and page 129, else text clean and bright boards. Very good indeed. Item #614
"THE MASTER OF DOCTRINE"
Later printing of this catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas's theological omnibus, "one of the finest hours of human genius." (Thomas Bokenkotter).
Neo-Thomism gathered force with Pope Leo XIII's encyclical, Aeterni Patris (1879), a "restoration of Catholic Philosophy." Thomas Pègues (1866–1936) was a French Dominican and professor of theology at The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Dominican university of Rome from 1909 to 1921. This summary of Catholic beliefs and practices was first prepared in 1907 and translated by the English Dominican, Aelred Whitacre, with his brief Foreword, dated "Rome/Feast of St. Nicholas/(December 6, 1921)." The text, divided in three sections, proceeds in question-and-answer form: The First Part, Of God (Sovereign Being; Cause and Lord of All Things), The Second Part: Of Man (Who came from God and Who must return to Him), The Third Part: Jesus Christ (God made Man in order to lead Man to God). With a brief prefatory note, addressed to Father Pegues, by Pope Benedict XV (dated February 1919), commending Pegues's French commentaries on the Angelic Doctor and imparting an Apostolic Benediction for this catechism. A "Prayer to Our Lord Jesus Christ" on the last leaf provides a concluding Epilogue. This edition was issued in laminated boards, with a reproduction of a medieval scholastic woodcut on the front board. An excellent reference copy for a student of Thomism. Approbations. Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church, McLean, Philosophy in Catholic Thought, 302.
Price: $35.00