New Teachers

WE ALL KNOW that Saint Anthony is a ‘Doctor of the Church’, but what exactly does that mean? How does one get to earn such a title? By passing an exam, or what? The news that this month the Holy Father is going to proclaim two new ‘Doctors of the Church’, St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. John of Avila, makes this a topical question.

The title ‘Doctor’ in this context has nothing to do with medicine: it simply means ‘teacher’. In the medieval universities it meant that one was qualified to teach one’s specialised subject, and was a lesser degree than that of ‘Master’. In modern Universities, the two degrees are gained in the opposite order, a Doctor being superior to a Master.

 

Teacher saints

 

The title ‘Doctor of the Church’ was of old given to very few saints regarded as outstanding for their teaching. The first four, declared in 1298, were the four ‘Latin’ Doctors (Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory). In 1568, the four ‘Greek’ Doctors (Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen and John Chrysostom) were added, along with St. Thomas Aquinas. Twenty years later St. Bonaventure was added to the list, no doubt to placate Franciscan feelings! A further twenty three names have since been included, the most recent being St. Therese of Lisieux. St. Anthony of Padua was only named a Doctor in 1946.

In order to be considered for this honour, it is clear that the saint must have been in some sense a teacher, not only in the holiness of his or her life, but also through speaking and writing. Even the artless writings of The Little Flower qualify, simply because of their enormous influence in guiding souls. It may be that centuries pass before such influence is clear, although in the case of Therese it took little more than one century.

 

St. Hildegard

 

So what of our two new Doctors? Hildegard now becomes the fourth woman to be given this honour, although in fact she is the earliest in point of time. She was born around 1098, almost a century before St. Anthony, and died in 1179 aged 81. The tenth child of a noble family, and rather sickly, she was entrusted to the care of a holy woman, the lady Jutta of Spanheim, at the age of 8, and some years later accompanied Jutta into religious life. When Jutta died in 1136, Hildegard was chosen by the nuns of Disinbodenberg, in the Rhineland, as their superior. After some struggles with the monastic authorities, Hildegard moved her nuns to a new foundation at Rupertsberg. This was to be a poorer establishment, with less worldly security.

Meanwhile she had begun, with the help and secretarial assistance of a priest, to write down certain visionary experiences, but she was reluctant to publish these until she had submitted them to the judgement of St. Bernard, the great Cistercian reformer, and of Pope Eugenius III. With their encouragement she completed her first work, called Scivias, or Know the Ways (of God). Her other main books, composed later, were The Book of Life’s Merits and The Book of Divine Works. Having reached the age of 60 she embarked on a series of preaching tours in the Rhineland area, an astonishing enterprise for a woman – even a powerful Abbess – at that time. She also composed liturgical poems and music. Altogether, she reminds me of a later saint and formidable lady, St. Teresa of Avila.

When Hildegard died, she was already popularly regarded as a saint. Soon, work began on her process of canonisation, and in due course papers were sent to the Pope. Some sixty years had passed, and the Pope was now Gregory IX, the friend of Francis and Anthony, who had canonised both of them with astonishing rapidity – somewhat to the annoyance of certain Cardinals who were sticklers for protocol! When Hildegard’s Cause arrived in 1233, it was rejected because of defects in the paperwork and sent back to Germany. Although the work of revision was completed by 1243, it appears that it never reached Rome. Consequently, although Hildegard was revered in her homeland, she was not formally recognised by Rome until this year, when the Holy Father granted her ‘equivalent canonisation’.

 

Apostle of Andalusia

 

St. John of Avila belongs to the 16th century, and I have not been able to discover why he is called ‘of Avila’, since he was neither born nor died there! Perhaps it was his family name. In fact he was born at Almodovar del Campo, about 200 miles south of Madrid. At the age of 14 he went to the University of Salamanca, to study Law, but returned home after a year. He lived a very devout life for three years until, on the advice of a Franciscan friar who met him, he began to study Philosophy and Theology at Alcala, under the famous Dominican Domingo de Soto. He was ordained priest shortly after the death of his parents, sold the family property and gave the proceeds to the poor.

Like St. Anthony before him, he desired to become a missionary, in his case to Mexico. In 1527 he went to Seville to seek an opportunity to fulfil this desire, but the Archbishop was so impressed with his abilities that he persuaded him (not without difficulty) to remain in Spain and undertake missionary work in Andalusia. It must be remembered that this region of Spain had only recently been regained from Islamic rule, and there was great need to renew the faith. In 1529 John began his work, and was immediately acclaimed for his powerful preaching. Over the next nine years he earned the title of ‘Apostle of Andalusia’. Like St. Anthony three centuries earlier in Italy, he was not afraid to denounce the sins of the rich and powerful, and to call for moral and ecclesiastical reform. Complaints were made to the Inquisition, but it proved easy to refute them.

 

Spiritual Letters

 

Among those influenced by him were St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of God. John of Avila was part of the same movement for renewal as they were. He was a friend to the Jesuits, and in 1538 he was made first Rector of the University of Baeza. For the last twenty years of his life he was plagued by illness, dying at Montilla (from which we get Amontillado sherry) in 1569. His writings have been collected and published, the best-known being the Audi Fili, said to be one of the best tracts on Christian perfection, and his Spiritual Letters to his disciples.

The writings of both Hildegard and John are available in English, together with recordings of Hildegard’s music. Why not explore them?