The celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the death of Blessed John Duns Scotus (1308-2008) ended with a Conference organised at the Johannes Duns Scotus Akademie in Cologne, Germany, on 5th-8th November.
The celebrations included an academic ceremony at the University of Cologne on 7th November, and a remembrance service at the Minoritenkirche of Cologne, where John Duns Scotus is buried, on 8th November, together with an opening of a commemorative exhibition. The brains behind the organisation of this Congress were those of the Franciscan Friar Minor Herbert Schneider OFM. The Congress was also addressed by Fr. Johannes Baptist Freyer OFM, Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome, as well as by Franciscan scholars, among whom Giovanni Lauriola OFM and Leonhard Lehmann OFMCap. Pope Benedict XVI sent a personal message to the participants in the Congress, read by Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne.
The Minister General of the Friars Minor, Fr. José Rodríguez Carballo OFM, presided over the celebrations at the “Studium Biblicum Franciscanum” of Jerusalem. On 8th November, the feastday of Blessed John Duns Scotus, the Minister General presided over the academic celebration organised by the SBF at the Immaculate Hall in Saint Saviour’s Monastery. Present for the celebration was also Fr. Massimo Fusarelli OFM, General Secretary for Formation and Studies in the Franciscan Order. The following day, Sunday 9th November, the Minister General presided over a concelebrated Mass at the Basilica of Gethsemani, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM and many friars of the Holy Land Custody.
John Duns Scotus’ sarcophagus in the Minoritenkirche of Cologne has the following inscription: “Scotia me genuit. Anglia me suscepit. Gallia me docuit. Cologna me tenet” (Scotland gave me birth. England welcomed me. France taught me. Cologne will keep me).
John Duns was born in 1265 in the village of Duns, in the Berwick district of Scotland. He is known as Scotus, or the Scot. From his early teens John was familiar with the Franciscans, especially his uncle Elias, who educated him at Oxford as a “puer oblatus”. In 1278 John began to study philosophy at Oxford in the Franciscan school founded by Robert Grosseteste. At Oxford John joined the Franciscans in 1284. After completing his theological studies he was ordained priest at Lincoln on 17th March 1291 by bishop Oliver Sutton.
After his ordination John Duns Scotus continued to specialise in the Franciscan school of the University of Oxford, going through all the grades and titles until he became Master in 1296, when he was 30 years old. After teaching theology at Oxford and Cambridge, in 1300 the superiors sent John Duns to the prestigious Franciscan school of the Paris University.
The period in Paris was, however, full of difficulties for Scotus. King Philip the Fair (1285-1314) entered into a bitter controversy with Pope Boniface VIII and was excommunicated. In return, the king ordered all professors at the Paris University to call for a general council to depose the Pope and to sign a petition calling for the convening of this council. John Duns Scotus was one of those who refused to sign the petition, and was therefore exiled from Paris.
During the Pentecost Chapter of 1304, however, the Minister General Gonsalvus of Spain recommended Scotus to the authorities of the University, and John was reinstalled in his position of Master. It was at this period that Scotus became famous for his lectures, defending the privilege of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
John Duns Scotus left Paris in 1307 and transferred to the Franciscan school at Cologne. It was at Cologne that John Duns died on 8th November 1208, when he was still about 42 years old. He was buried in the Minoritenkirche (church of the Minors) near the famous Cologne cathedral. This church, until 1802, belonged to the Franciscan Minors Conventuals, who were again authorised to officiate it after 1945.
The cult given to John Duns Scotus since time immemorial at Cologne and Nola, in southern Italy, led the Franciscans to work hard for the official recognition of John’s holy life. It was Pope Paul VI who addressed the Apostolic Letter “Alma Parens” during the International Congress at Oxford and Edinburgh, commemorating the 700th anniversary of Scotus’ birth on 14th July 1966. On 15th November 1980 Pope John Paul II visited the tomb of John Duns Scotus while on a pastoral visit to Cologne. On 6th July 1991 John Paul II declared the validity of the cult of John Duns Scotus from time immemorial. On 20th March 1993 the same Pope gave the official liturgical honours to Blessed John Duns Scotus at the Vatican Basilica. In Malta, the Franciscan friars organised a commemorative celebration of Vespers, and a discourse by the historian Fr. George Aquilina OFM, honouring John Duns Scotus on 25th March 1993, at Saint Francis Church, in Hamrun.
The defence of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, initiated by John Duns Scotus, led the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV to approve the liturgical office of this Marian feast in 1480. On 4th December 1854 Blessed Pope Pius IX officially declared a dogma of faith the doctrine on the Immaculate Conception.
The Franciscans were instrumental in studying the works of the “Subtle and Marian Doctor,” as Scotus is widely known. In 1938 the International Scotistic Commission was founded in the Order of Friars Minor, with its headquarters at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome. Fr. Carlo Balic OFM started the publication of the critical edition of Scotus’ voluminous works, which is still underway to this very day.
One of the outstanding figures in the Franciscan Order during the 19th century, the venerable servant of God Gabriele Maria Allegra OFM (1907-1976), who was a missionary in China and a scholar of Holy Scripture, and who translated the entire Scripture in Chinese at the “Studium Biblicum Franciscanum” at Beijing (subsequently transferred to Hong Kong), was very devout of Blessed John Duns Scotus. In his memoirs Fr. Allegra wrote: “I see Scotus as the Doctor of the Immaculate Conception, of Christ as king of the universe, of the Church as the bride of Christ, as a defender of Christ’s vicar on earth, as a theologian of the mystery of the Eucharist.”
Pope Benedict XVI, in his message on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of 2008, wrote: “We desire, therefore, to call all learned men and women as well as all believers and non believers to the path trodden by Scotus, a path that underscores the harmony between faith and reason; a path that defines the nature of theology, which is oriented toward life and love, rather than mere speculation. When doing this work [of harmonizing faith and reason], he allowed himself to be guided both by the Magisterium of the Church and from a healthy critical sense in the knowledge of the truth. He was convinced that science has value insofar as it is realised in deeds.”
Noel Muscat ofm
