30
theology. It also established two new professorships, in homiletics and physical
chemistry, and ordered that the Observatory of the college publish periodic reports.
(The teaching of physical chemistry was an important updating of the old educational framework; but as it was imposed from the outside, as it were, it was not
entirely welcomed by traditionalists within the order.)
This decree was followed by Leo XII’s Constitution Quod divina sapientia
(August 28, 1824), which resumed the proposals of the Congregation on university
and high school education in the Papal States. Among its hallmarks was the subordination of the schools of religious orders, including the Jesuits, to the control of the
Congregation itself.
In 1820, Decree 10 of the 20th General Congregation of the Society had called
for a revision of the Ratio atque institutio studiorum, the curriculum of studies that
had guided Jesuit schools since the end of the sixteenth century. By the following
General Congregation of the Society (1829), as we have seen, the education of the
Society operated within a regulatory framework that was no longer entirely autonomous. Decree 15 of that General Congregation reiterated the need for reform of the
Ratio, while Decree 13 preserved the teaching of scholastic theology, alongside
those of dogmatic and moral theology. Decree 17 posed the question of whether it
was appropriate to grant academic degrees to gifted students in physics and mathematics; the answer was negative, because of the need to not undermine the prime
position of theology and because if degrees in these fields were admitted, this could
inspire similar demands for other disciplines. Finally, Decree 19 recognized some
autonomy to the sciences; while it reaffirmed the use of Latin in classes, it granted
exceptions for physics and mathematics.
The debate over the new Ratio ranged from a “conservative” side, with perhaps
greater following in the Latin provinces, and a “progressive” side, especially from
Germany, where mathematics was taught in the entire philosophical 3-year period
and Aristotle’s physics was no longer taught.
To carry out decrees of the General Congregations, in 1830, Father General J. Ph.
Roothaan sent a circular to all the provinces of the Society soliciting opinions and
suggestions for the revision of the Ratio. He also set up a special commission which
in 1831 presented proposals on the basis of those opinions, and in 1832, the Father
General published a new Ratio that essentially followed the German model in the
teaching of mathematics and sciences. The fact that these topics had been used
against religion was cited as a reason to cultivate them, to “deny the enemy this
weapon.”
One interesting development was that whereas in the past logic and metaphysics
were to be taught by the same instructor, now the most cosmological and factual
parts were entrusted to a separate instructor, who was to treat them in the second
year. As in the past, mathematics was entrusted to a different instructor. The Ratio
specified that mathematics was to cover geometry, algebra, plane trigonometry, elements of spherical trigonometry and conical sections, analytical geometry, and elements of differential and integral Calculus. The teaching of physics was to begin in
the second year with statics, dynamics, mechanics, hydrostatics, general hydraulics,
aerostatics, pneumatics, astronomy, light-heat-electricity-magnetism, and if
U. Baldini
theology. It also established two new professorships, in homiletics and physical
chemistry, and ordered that the Observatory of the college publish periodic reports.
(The teaching of physical chemistry was an important updating of the old educational framework; but as it was imposed from the outside, as it were, it was not
entirely welcomed by traditionalists within the order.)
This decree was followed by Leo XII’s Constitution Quod divina sapientia
(August 28, 1824), which resumed the proposals of the Congregation on university
and high school education in the Papal States. Among its hallmarks was the subordination of the schools of religious orders, including the Jesuits, to the control of the
Congregation itself.
In 1820, Decree 10 of the 20th General Congregation of the Society had called
for a revision of the Ratio atque institutio studiorum, the curriculum of studies that
had guided Jesuit schools since the end of the sixteenth century. By the following
General Congregation of the Society (1829), as we have seen, the education of the
Society operated within a regulatory framework that was no longer entirely autonomous. Decree 15 of that General Congregation reiterated the need for reform of the
Ratio, while Decree 13 preserved the teaching of scholastic theology, alongside
those of dogmatic and moral theology. Decree 17 posed the question of whether it
was appropriate to grant academic degrees to gifted students in physics and mathematics; the answer was negative, because of the need to not undermine the prime
position of theology and because if degrees in these fields were admitted, this could
inspire similar demands for other disciplines. Finally, Decree 19 recognized some
autonomy to the sciences; while it reaffirmed the use of Latin in classes, it granted
exceptions for physics and mathematics.
The debate over the new Ratio ranged from a “conservative” side, with perhaps
greater following in the Latin provinces, and a “progressive” side, especially from
Germany, where mathematics was taught in the entire philosophical 3-year period
and Aristotle’s physics was no longer taught.
To carry out decrees of the General Congregations, in 1830, Father General J. Ph.
Roothaan sent a circular to all the provinces of the Society soliciting opinions and
suggestions for the revision of the Ratio. He also set up a special commission which
in 1831 presented proposals on the basis of those opinions, and in 1832, the Father
General published a new Ratio that essentially followed the German model in the
teaching of mathematics and sciences. The fact that these topics had been used
against religion was cited as a reason to cultivate them, to “deny the enemy this
weapon.”
One interesting development was that whereas in the past logic and metaphysics
were to be taught by the same instructor, now the most cosmological and factual
parts were entrusted to a separate instructor, who was to treat them in the second
year. As in the past, mathematics was entrusted to a different instructor. The Ratio
specified that mathematics was to cover geometry, algebra, plane trigonometry, elements of spherical trigonometry and conical sections, analytical geometry, and elements of differential and integral Calculus. The teaching of physics was to begin in
the second year with statics, dynamics, mechanics, hydrostatics, general hydraulics,
aerostatics, pneumatics, astronomy, light-heat-electricity-magnetism, and if
U. Baldini