Joseph Kleutgen
Encyclopedia
Joseph Wilhelm Karl Kleutgen (9 April 1811 – 13 January 1883) was a German
Jesuit theologian and philosopher.
, Westphalia
. He began his studies with the intention of becoming a priest, but owing to the Protestant atmosphere of the school which he attended, his zeal for religion gradually cooled. From 28 April, 1830, to 8 January, 1831, he studied philology at the University of Munich. He was intensely interested in Plato
's philosophy and the Greek tragic poets. Though he clung to the Catholic faith, it ceased to be the ruling principle of his life, and he fell into a deep melancholy.
In this state he was about to enter upon a secular career, when he suddenly received what he always regarded as a special illumination from heaven. Still he was not at rest. During the preceding years he had imbibed certain ideas from Lessing
's and Herder
's writings, which he could not reconcile with the Christian faith. After several weeks of internal conflict he betook himself to prayer, and to his astonishment many of his difficulties vanished at once; the remainder disappeared gradually. At Easter, 1832 he entered the theological academy of Münster, and after two terms went to the seminary at Paderborn
, where he was ordained subdeacon
on 22 February 1834. On 28 April he entered the Society of Jesus at Brig, Switzerland
, and, to avold any trouble with the German Government in the matter of military service
, he became a naturalized citizen in one of the Swiss cantons, and changed his name to "Peters". After his ordination to the priesthood in 1837 he was professor of ethics in Fribourg
, Switzerland, for two years; he then taught rhetoric in Brig from 1840 till 1843. In 1843 he was appointed professor of sacred eloquence in the German College, Rome.
During his residence in Rome and the vicinity (1843-74), besides pastoral work and the composition of his principal writings, he was substitute to the secretary of the general of the Jesuits (1843-56), secretary (1856-62), consultor of the Congregation of the Index, and collaborator in the preparation of the Constitution Dei Filius
of the First Vatican Council
. He composed the first draft of the encyclical
"Æterni Patris" of Pope Leo XIII
on Scholasticism
(1879). He played a leading part in the revival of Scholastic philosophy and theology, and so thorough was his mastery of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas
that he was called Thomas redivivus (Thomas returned to life).
With the object of combating the doctrines of Georg Hermes
, J. B. Hirscher, and Anton Günther
, he composed his Theologie der Vorzeit (Theology of the Past) and Philosophie der Verzeit (Philosophy of the Past), works which upon their appearance were pronounced in many quarters to be epoch-making. When he died, Leo XIII said of him: "Erat princeps philosophorum" (he was the prince of philosophers).
Some years before the Vatican Council Kleutgen was confessor extraordinary to the Benedictine Convent of St. Ambrose in Rome. The nuns of this convent honoured as a saint one of their sisters who had died fifty years before. This was reported to the Holy Office and everyone concerned was severely punished; Kleutgen and the ordinary confessor (both men of exceptionally holy lives) were suspended, because of lack of prudence in directing the nuns, for awhile even from saying Mass.
Kleutgen consequently left Rome and went to the secluded shrine of Our Lady in Galoro, where he wrote the greater part of his Theologie der Vorzeit and Philosophie der Vorzeit. After the opening of the council, at the urgent request of several bishops, especially Archbishop Stein, Apostolic Vicar of Calcutta, his superior general recalled him to Rome to place his talents and learning at the disposal of the council, and Pope Pius IX
removed all ecclesiastical censures as soon as he became acquainted with the work which Kleutgen had written. In 1879 some Old Catholics spread the report that Kleutgen had been condemned by the Roman Inquisition
to an imprisonment of six years on account of complicity in the poisoning of a Princess von Hohenlohe; but, on 7 March, Juvenal Pelami, Notary of the Inquisition, testified that Kleutgen had never been summoned before the Inquisition upon such a charge, and consequently had not been punished by it. He died at St. Anton
near Kaltern, Tyrol
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Jesuit theologian and philosopher.
Life
Kleutgen was born in DortmundDortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...
. He began his studies with the intention of becoming a priest, but owing to the Protestant atmosphere of the school which he attended, his zeal for religion gradually cooled. From 28 April, 1830, to 8 January, 1831, he studied philology at the University of Munich. He was intensely interested in Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's philosophy and the Greek tragic poets. Though he clung to the Catholic faith, it ceased to be the ruling principle of his life, and he fell into a deep melancholy.
In this state he was about to enter upon a secular career, when he suddenly received what he always regarded as a special illumination from heaven. Still he was not at rest. During the preceding years he had imbibed certain ideas from Lessing
Lessing
Lessing - German family of writers and artists*Johann Gottfried Lessing pastor primarus in Kamenz, well respected, published theologian, translator and father of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Karl Gotthelf Lessing...
's and Herder
Herder
A herder is a worker who lives a possibly semi-nomadic life, caring for various domestic animals, in places where these animals wander pasture lands....
's writings, which he could not reconcile with the Christian faith. After several weeks of internal conflict he betook himself to prayer, and to his astonishment many of his difficulties vanished at once; the remainder disappeared gradually. At Easter, 1832 he entered the theological academy of Münster, and after two terms went to the seminary at Paderborn
Paderborn
Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
, where he was ordained subdeacon
Subdeacon
-Subdeacons in the Orthodox Church:A subdeacon or hypodeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the reader and lower than the deacon.-Canonical Discipline:...
on 22 February 1834. On 28 April he entered the Society of Jesus at Brig, Switzerland
Brig, Switzerland
Brig, officially Brig-Glis is a municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.The current municipality was formed in 1972 through the merger of Brig , Brigerbad and Glis.-History:...
, and, to avold any trouble with the German Government in the matter of military service
Military service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
, he became a naturalized citizen in one of the Swiss cantons, and changed his name to "Peters". After his ordination to the priesthood in 1837 he was professor of ethics in Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
, Switzerland, for two years; he then taught rhetoric in Brig from 1840 till 1843. In 1843 he was appointed professor of sacred eloquence in the German College, Rome.
During his residence in Rome and the vicinity (1843-74), besides pastoral work and the composition of his principal writings, he was substitute to the secretary of the general of the Jesuits (1843-56), secretary (1856-62), consultor of the Congregation of the Index, and collaborator in the preparation of the Constitution Dei Filius
Dei Filius
Dei Filius is the incipit of the dogmatic constitution of the First Vatican Council on the Catholic faith, which was adopted unanimously on 24 April 1870....
of the First Vatican Council
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...
. He composed the first draft of the encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
"Æterni Patris" of Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
on Scholasticism
Scholasticism
Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context...
(1879). He played a leading part in the revival of Scholastic philosophy and theology, and so thorough was his mastery of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
that he was called Thomas redivivus (Thomas returned to life).
With the object of combating the doctrines of Georg Hermes
Georg Hermes
Georg Hermes , German Roman Catholic theologian, was born at Dreierwalde, in Westphalia, and was educated at the gymnasium and university of Münster, in both of which institutions he afterwards taught....
, J. B. Hirscher, and Anton Günther
Anton Günther
Anton Günther was an Austrian Roman Catholic philosopher whose work was condemned by the church as heretical tritheism.-Biography:...
, he composed his Theologie der Vorzeit (Theology of the Past) and Philosophie der Verzeit (Philosophy of the Past), works which upon their appearance were pronounced in many quarters to be epoch-making. When he died, Leo XIII said of him: "Erat princeps philosophorum" (he was the prince of philosophers).
Some years before the Vatican Council Kleutgen was confessor extraordinary to the Benedictine Convent of St. Ambrose in Rome. The nuns of this convent honoured as a saint one of their sisters who had died fifty years before. This was reported to the Holy Office and everyone concerned was severely punished; Kleutgen and the ordinary confessor (both men of exceptionally holy lives) were suspended, because of lack of prudence in directing the nuns, for awhile even from saying Mass.
Kleutgen consequently left Rome and went to the secluded shrine of Our Lady in Galoro, where he wrote the greater part of his Theologie der Vorzeit and Philosophie der Vorzeit. After the opening of the council, at the urgent request of several bishops, especially Archbishop Stein, Apostolic Vicar of Calcutta, his superior general recalled him to Rome to place his talents and learning at the disposal of the council, and Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
removed all ecclesiastical censures as soon as he became acquainted with the work which Kleutgen had written. In 1879 some Old Catholics spread the report that Kleutgen had been condemned by the Roman Inquisition
Roman Inquisition
The Roman Inquisition was a system of tribunals developed by the Holy See during the second half of the 16th century, responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes related to heresy, including Protestantism, sorcery, immorality, blasphemy, Judaizing and witchcraft, as...
to an imprisonment of six years on account of complicity in the poisoning of a Princess von Hohenlohe; but, on 7 March, Juvenal Pelami, Notary of the Inquisition, testified that Kleutgen had never been summoned before the Inquisition upon such a charge, and consequently had not been punished by it. He died at St. Anton
St. Anton
Sankt Anton am Arlberg is a village and ski resort in Tyrol, western Austria, with a permanent population of approximately . It is situated at above sea level in the Tyrolean Alps, with Aerial tramways and chairlifts up to . It is also a popular summer resort among trekkers and...
near Kaltern, Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
.
Works
Kleutgen's principal works are:- "Die alten und die neuen Schulen" (Mainz, 1846, Münster, 1869);
- "Ueber den Glauben an das Wunderbare" (Münster, 1846);
- "Ars dicendi" (Rome, 1847; Turin, 1903);
- "Die Theologie der Vorzeit" (3 vols., Münster, 1853-60, 5 vols., 1867-74);
- "Leben frommer Diener und Dienerinnen Gottes" (Münster, 1869);
- "Die Philosophie der Vorzeit" (2 vols., Münster, 1860-3; Innsbruck, 1878), translated into French and Italian;
- "Die Verurteilung des Ontologismus" (Münster, 1868); transIated into French and Italian;
- "Zu meiner Rechtfertigung" (Münster, 1868);
- "Vom intellectus agens und den angeborenen Ideen";
- "Zur Lehre vom Glauben" (Münster, 1875);
- "Die Ideale und ihre wahre Verwirklichung" (Frankfurt, 1868);
- "Ueber die Wunsche, Befurehtungen und Hoffnungen in Betreff der bevorstehenden Kirehenversammlung" (Münster, 1869);
- "Briefe aus Rom" (Münster, 1869);
- "Predigten" (Regenbburg, 1872; 2 vols., 1880-5);
- "Die oberste Lehrgewalt des römischen Bischofs" (Trier, 1870);
- "De ipso Deo" (Ratisbon, 1881);
- "Das evangelium des heiligen Matthäus" (Freiburg, 1882).