Existentialist Saint

In the paneled quiet of the Papal Cancelleria last fortnight, eager-eyed young priests leaned forward on elbows shiny from desk-reading; ascetic monks stretched thin necks from their lowered cowls. All sat raptly silent along the wainscoted wall, while speaker followed speaker at the highly-polished wooden reading stand. The occasion: a course of studies on existentialism under the auspices of the Vatican's Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.*

"Existentialism" is more than the name of a jittery Paris fad; it is a description of any philosophy that takes as its starting point the elementary fact of human existence. The word, and the Catholic Church's wish to assist Thomism's prior claim to it, had brought 13th Century Existentialist Aquinas and 20th Century Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre together. The whole room rustled when white-maned Philosopher Jacques Maritain stood up to speak:

"Saint Thomas was an existentialist in a genuine sense, though very different from today's existentialists. ... [He] gave prudence and will their important and proper place. Modern existentialists have tried to reach conclusions without prudence and without will. They have ignored the spirituality behind the sublime cry of Job; they have remembered only the dung heap whereon Job lay. If we will see true existentialism, we must look for it in Saint Thomas."

Then the great Thomist Professor Etienne Gibson of the College de France puffed his fat cheeks, pursed his wide mouth, and dealt roundly with Crypto-Philosopher Sartre and his satellites:

"Modern existentialism marks a philosophical decadence. Poetry, painting, music, all became decadent when they busied themselves with shadows, forgot nature as it is. That is what is happening to philosophy today unless. . . ."

Here Gilson waved his pudgy, deprecating hands. "I'm no theologian, but I dare to put this proposition before you theologians. ... I propose to you that we return to the idea of Saint Thomas, whereby all essence is merged in 'the Supreme Being,' God, who is God primarily because He exists and draws all essence from the fact that He exists."

* Founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1879 to ex. amine new developments in thought in the light of Roman Catholic doctrine.

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