Antonio Rosmini
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Biography
Antonio Rosmini Serbati was born on 24 March 1797, at Rovereto, in the Austrian Tyrol. HIs brother Carlo Rosmini was a secular writer. He studied at the University of Padua, and was ordained priest at Chioggia, on 21 April 1821. In 1822 he received a Doctorate in Theology and Canon Law.[3]
During this time Rosmini formulated his "Principle of Passivity". Rosmini felt compelled to ask himself: Do my plans spring more from my own subjective desire to do good than from a desire to do the will of God?”. Reflecting in this way, Rosmini articulated the principle in two parts: be ready to undertake any work of charity but only so long as it is God's Providence that presents it; in the meantime, immerse oneself in the commitment to continual conversion, seeking the amendment of one's own life.[4]
The Institute of Charity
In 1828 he founded at Monte Calvario near Domodossola, a new religious community, the Institute of Charity, known generally since as the Rosminians. In the autumn of 1830, he inaugurated the observance of the rule at Calvario, and from 1834 to 1835 had charge of a parish at Rovereto. Later foundations followed at Stresa and Domodossola. The Constitutions of the institute were approved by presented to Pope Gregory XVI on 20 December 1838. The institute spread rapidly in England and Italy, and requests for foundations came from various countries.[3]
The members might be priests or laymen, who devoted themselves to preaching, the education of youth, and works of universal charity—material, spiritual and intellectual. They work in Italy, England, Ireland, France, Wales, New Zealand, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Venezuela, and the United States. In London they were attached to the historical Church of St Etheldreda, Ely Place, Holborn.[5] In 1962, Rosmini College School for Boys was founded in Auckland, New Zealand by Father Catcheside.[6]
Rosmini was retained as a political advisor to the then government of Piedmont. In August 1848, he was sent to Rome by King Charles Albert of Piedmont to enlist the pope on the side of Italy as against Austria.
Writings
Rosmini's works,
The controversy continued until 1887, when Pope Leo XIII condemned forty of Rosmini's propositions. Referring to this condemnation, however, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document in 2001 in which it declared that "the meaning of the propositions, as understood and condemned by the Decree, does not belong to the authentic position of Rosmini."[9]
In 1998 Rosmini was named by
Thought
The most comprehensive view of Rosmini's philosophical standpoint is to be found in his Sistema filosofico, in which he set forth the conception of a complete encyclopaedia of the human knowable, synthetically conjoined, according to the order of ideas, in a perfectly harmonious whole. Contemplating the position of recent philosophy from
- that the notion or idea of being or existence, in general, enters into, and is presupposed by, all our acquired cognitions, so that, without it, they would be impossible
- that this idea is essentially objective since what is seen in it is as distinct from and opposed to the mind that sees it as the light is from the eye that looks at it
- that it is essentially true, because being and truth are convertible terms, and because in the vision of it, the mind cannot err, since error could only be committed by a judgment, and here there is no judgment, but a pure intuition affirming nothing and denying nothing
- that by the application of this essentially objective and true idea the human being intellectually perceives, first, the animal body individually conjoined with him, and then, on the occasion of the sensations produced in him not by himself, the causes of those sensations, that is, from the action felt he perceives and affirms an agent, a being, and therefore a true thing, that acts on him, and he thus gets at the external world, these are the true primitive judgments, containing
- the subsistence of the particular being (subject), and
- its essence or species as determined by the quality of the action felt from it (predicate)
- that reflection, by separating the essence or species from the subsistence, obtains the full specific idea (universalization), and then from this, by leaving aside some of its elements, the abstract specific idea (abstraction)
- that the mind, having reached this stage of development, can proceed to further and further abstracts, including the first principles of reasoning, the principles of the several sciences, complex ideas, groups of ideas, and so on without end
- finally, that the same most universal idea of being, this generator and formal element of all acquired cognitions, cannot itself be acquired, but must be innate in us, implanted by God in our nature. Being, as naturally shining to our mind, must therefore be what men call the light of reason. Hence the name Rosmini gives it of ideal being; and this he laid down as the fundamental principle of all philosophy and the supreme criterion of truth and certainty. This he believed to be the teaching of St Augustine, as well as of St Thomas, of whom he was an ardent admirer and defender.[5]
According to Father Battista Mondin, Rosmini's philosophy cannot be defined as Thomism because it lacks the fundamental real distinction between essence and existence (Actus essendi), as well as the conception of God as Esse ut Actus.[10]
The cause for canonization
On 26 June 2006,
Works
Of his numerous works, of which a collected edition in 17 volumes was issued in Milan (1842–44), supplemented by Opere postume in 5 volumes (Turin, 1859–74), the most important are:
- The origin of ideas. Translated by anonymous (Translated from the 5th Italian ed.). London: Keegan Paul, Trench. 1883. OCLC 818116370.
- The Principles of Moral Science (1831)
- The Restoration of Philosophy in Italy (1836)
- The Philosophy of Right (1841–45)
The following have also been translated into English:
- The constitution under social justice. Translated by Alberto Mingardi. Lexington Books. 2006. ISBN 9780739107256.
- A Catholic catechism. Translated by William Seth Agar. 1849.
- ISBN 9780837084664.
- Maxims of Christian perfection. Translated by anonymous. London: Richardson. 1849.
- 'Psychology (Anonymous) (1884–88)
- A short sketch of modern philosophies and of his own system. Translated by OCLC 551258110.
- The ruling principle of method applied to education. Translated by OCLC 769155902.
- Letters. Translated by Dominic Gazzola. London [u.a.]: Washbourne [u.a.] 1901.
References
- S2CID 150287488.
- ^ Mingardi, Alberto (2007). Intro to The Constitution Under Social Justice. Lexington Books. p. xl.
- ^ a b c Cormack, George, and Daniel Hickey. "Rosmini and Rosminianism." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 15 November 2016.
- ^ "Antonio Rosmini", Rosminians, Ireland
- ^ a b c d public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 738–739. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ "Rosmini College". rosmini.school.nz. Auckland, NZ.
- ^ "Muratore, Umberto. "Antonio Rosmini", Centro Internazionale di studi Rosminiani". Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ^ Cattaneo, Massimo (1999). "Gatti, Vincenzo Maria". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 52. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013.
- ^ Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. "Note on the Force of the Doctrinal Decrees Concerning the Thought and Work of Fr Antonio Rosmini Serbati". vatican.va. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ISBN 978-88-5545-053-9.
- ^ "A Chronological Summary of the Cause of Antonio Rosmini". rosmini.org. Institute of Charity. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Rosmini and Rosminianism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Further reading
- Cleary, Denis (2008). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Antonio Rosmini (Winter 2008 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
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ignored (help) - Davidson, Thomas (1882). The philosophical system of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati. London: Kegan Paul, Trench. OCLC 644511833. Includes a biographical sketch and bibliography.
- MacWalter, Gabriel S., ed. (1883). Life of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati. Vol. 1. London: Kegan Paul, Trench. OCLC 613110882.
- Lockhart, William S., ed. (1886). Life of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati. Vol. 2. London: Kegan Paul, Trench. OCLC 902993060.
- The life of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati. Translated by Giambattista Pagani. London: G. Routledge. 1907. OCLC 701254451.
- "Church reformation in Italy". Edinburgh Review. 114 (231): 233–268. July 1861. ISSN 1751-8482.
External links
- Antonio Rosmini, Lezioni di Maria Scalisi sull'Antropologia in servizio della scienza morale, in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJyGUDrn2DA
- (in Italian) Official website
- "Website about beatification ceremony". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2007.