Eleutherius Winance
Eleutherius Winance | |
---|---|
Personal | |
Born | Belgium | 10 July 1909
Died | 15 August 2009 Lancaster, California, United States | (aged 100)
Resting place | St. Andrew's Abbey |
Religion | Catholic |
Notable work(s) | The Communist Persuasion: A Personal Experience of Brainwashing |
Alma mater | Catholic University of Leuven |
Profession | Philosopher |
Order | Benedictines |
Founder of | St. Andrew's Abbey |
Philosophy | Thomism |
Senior posting | |
Profession | Philosopher |
Eleutherius Winance (10 July 1909 – 15 August 2009) was a Belgian-born Benedictine monk and philosophy professor. Winance was the last surviving founders of St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, California.[1] He taught philosophy at Claremont Graduate University for 38 years.
Early life
Winance was born in Belgium on 10 July 1909.[1] He was named for St. Eleutherius, the patron saint of freedom.[1] He joined St. Andre's Monastery when he was 17 years old.[1] He obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1934 from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.[1]
Benedictine Monk
Western China
Winance was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1936.[1] The Benedictine order sent him to China that same year. Winance and two other priests then established a monastery in Sichuan province.[1] In 1937, Winance helped to found both a Catholic elementary school and a seminary for the new Diocese of Nanchong[1] (traditionally known as Roman Catholic Diocese of Shunqing), which was established in 1929.
Winance and the other Benedictine monks were isolated during the second Sino-Japanese War, which lasted from 1937 until 1945, the end of World War II.[1] The relocated the monastery to the Sichuan capital city of Chengdu following World War II.[1] The monks opened the Institute of Chinese and Western Cultural Studies in Chengdu. The institute's library eventually contained more than 10,000 books and other publications.[1]
The city of Chengdu, which was the last stronghold of the
Winance was accused by police in 1952 of being a member of the
United States
Following his expulsion from China, Winance was sent to Rome, where he taught philosophy at Sant'Anselmo, a Benedictine college, for four years.[1] In 1958, he published a book of his experiences during the Chinese Communist Revolution entitled, The Communist Persuasion: A Personal Experience of Brainwashing.[1] He next went to St. John's University, Minnesota.[1] In California, he taught in the Claremont Colleges graduate program in philosophy and at St. John's Seminary College in Camarillo.
See also
References
Reading list
- Doyle, Paula. "Fr. Eleutherius Winance, Benedictine monk, dies at 100." The Tidings. 21 August 2009, p. 4. (The Tidings is the Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.)
- Winance, Eleutherius. The Communist Persuasion: A Personal Experience of Brainwashing. Translated by Emeric A. Lawrence. (New York: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1958)
- Woo, Elaine. "Longtime professor of philosophy; Father Eleutherius Winance, 1909–2009." Los Angeles Times, 21 August 2009, A32.
- Winance, R.P. Èleuthère, Questions D’Èpistémologie, (Belgique: Cefal, 2001).