Pope Benedict announced at WYD that St. John of Avila will be named a Doctor of the Church.
Is it just me, or is this inflation in that title a bit troubling. The four original Doctors of the (Western) Church were proclaimed in 1298. No more were so titled until St. Pius V named four Doctors of the Eastern Church in 1568 along with St. Thomas Aquinas, of course. St. Bonaventure was named in 1588 and four more in the 1700's...but then there was a huge explosion in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the novel naming of three (female) Doctress-Virgins. In less than 200 years, fourteen became 33 and, now, 34.
I find this troubling. Prior to 1588...in 300 years only two Popes invoked this title. Since 1828, almost every Pope has named at least one. As if it's just one of those things a Pope has to do at least once. That sort of tokenism troubles me. Next every Pope will be wanting to make at least one ex cathedra statement in their pontificate...
Now, I'll admit, most of the Doctors make sense to me. Most of them really are towering theological figures who one would expect to be given that title (in the West, at least, though a Western bias is very apparent).
However, there are liturgical concerns too. Though it may not be a principle in the Novus Ordo, in the Old Rite every Doctor definitely got a feast, a Double, on the calendar (and even, at one point, had the Credo said at their Masses). And yet calendar cluttering is one concern I think would need to be dealt with in any re-attempt of the reform of the Old Rite.
I'd be inclined to have only an average of three feasts per week (though there may be a way, as was eventually attempted, to keep many more minor Saints simply as commemorations with their Collects) and yet at this rate, there's already a Doctor for well more than half the weeks year. Let alone other Saints. And there is no particular guidance on how to commemorate the Doctress-Virgins (St. Theresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Therese of Lisieux) in the Old Rite.
And 33 was such a nice round symbolic number too. Now the next numerological "milestone" they could hit would be 40...
Is it just me, or is this inflation in that title a bit troubling. The four original Doctors of the (Western) Church were proclaimed in 1298. No more were so titled until St. Pius V named four Doctors of the Eastern Church in 1568 along with St. Thomas Aquinas, of course. St. Bonaventure was named in 1588 and four more in the 1700's...but then there was a huge explosion in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the novel naming of three (female) Doctress-Virgins. In less than 200 years, fourteen became 33 and, now, 34.
I find this troubling. Prior to 1588...in 300 years only two Popes invoked this title. Since 1828, almost every Pope has named at least one. As if it's just one of those things a Pope has to do at least once. That sort of tokenism troubles me. Next every Pope will be wanting to make at least one ex cathedra statement in their pontificate...
Now, I'll admit, most of the Doctors make sense to me. Most of them really are towering theological figures who one would expect to be given that title (in the West, at least, though a Western bias is very apparent).
However, there are liturgical concerns too. Though it may not be a principle in the Novus Ordo, in the Old Rite every Doctor definitely got a feast, a Double, on the calendar (and even, at one point, had the Credo said at their Masses). And yet calendar cluttering is one concern I think would need to be dealt with in any re-attempt of the reform of the Old Rite.
I'd be inclined to have only an average of three feasts per week (though there may be a way, as was eventually attempted, to keep many more minor Saints simply as commemorations with their Collects) and yet at this rate, there's already a Doctor for well more than half the weeks year. Let alone other Saints. And there is no particular guidance on how to commemorate the Doctress-Virgins (St. Theresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Therese of Lisieux) in the Old Rite.
And 33 was such a nice round symbolic number too. Now the next numerological "milestone" they could hit would be 40...
1 comment:
This stew is going to end up tasting awful. Wait, wrong analogy . . .
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