Dom Donald's Blog: Blessed John Duns Scotus Scotland Tuesday 8 November 2011

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Blessed John Duns Scotus Scotland Tuesday 8 November 2011

ZENIT - On Duns Scotus by Pope Benedict XVI

www.zenit.org/article-29826?l=english

International Centenary Symposium
on the Mariology of Blessed John Duns Scotus.

Cardinal O'Brien,Mgr Henry Docherty and Fr Willie Mc Fadden with the Franciscan's Immaculate at the Statue in Duns.

INTERNATIONAL CENTENARY SYMPOSIUM ON THE MARIOLOGY OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS
SCOTUS

CHURCH OF OUR LADY AND ST MARGARET, DUNS

HOMILY PREACHED BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN

WEDNESDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER 2008

INTRODUCTION:

It gives me very great pleasure to welcome you all here to Duns this
afternoon to our beautiful little church dedicated to Our Lady and St
Margaret.

I know that you have come on pilgrimage here from the International
Symposium being held at Durham University – I would hope a welcome break for
you all in the midst of deep theological lectures on various aspects of the
life and work of Blessed John Duns Scotus. Hopefully here in this beautiful
border country of Scotland where John Duns Scotus was born you will be able
to absorb something of the beauties of nature which affected John as he was
growing up and no doubt had a considerable influence on his thought.

As you know John became a Franciscan; studied at the University of Oxford;
was ordained to the Priesthood on 17th March 1291; and continued his studies
at Oxford before being sent to Paris. He lectured in Oxford and in Paris for
a considerable number of years before he was sent to Cologne where he
lectured for some time before his untimely death on 8th November 1308 at
approximately 43 years of age and at the height of his maturity. It is the
700th anniversary of his death which we are commemorating at this time.

THEOLOGY OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS:

With so many theologians around me I hesitate to try to summarise the
theology of Blessed John Duns Scotus in a few words.

However I quote from the late Father Eric Doyle O.F.M. who wrote in a
pamphlet produced for the 7th centenary of the birth of John Duns Scotus:
“If one were asked to summarise the vast synthesis of truth created by Duns
Scotus, the answer would take no more than a few words – a philosophy of
love and of theology centred on Christ”.

Perhaps in thinking of the theology of John we should emphasise his teaching
on “the uniqueness of each and every individual person”; we should reflect
on his theology of “Christ and his relationship to the world”; and thirdly
of course we should realise the depth of the teaching contained in “his
defence of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady” almost 600 years
before the Definition of the Dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

Here in this beautiful little parish church his teaching with regard to the
Immaculate Conception is summed up in the stained glass window above my head
with the engraving of the words: “potuit; decuit; ergo fecit”; “it could be
done; it would be fitting if it were done; therefore it was done!”.

SPIRITUALITY OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS:

However it is not because of the depth of his theology that we gather today
for this symposium and in this little church. It is to thank God for the
spirituality of this man.

Even in his own time when preparations were being made for his reception of
his mastership in theology, the Minister General of the Franciscans wrote:
“I authorise to be presented…..the beloved father in Christ... John Scotus.
I am thoroughly informed, partly from my own experience and partly from his
world wide reputation, of his praiseworthy life, his outstanding knowledge,
his most subtle mind, and his other remarkable qualities….” Those words
were written over 700 years ago.

And it was less than 20 years ago that there was promulgated the decree of
the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the presence of Pope John Paul
II which declared: “The fame of holiness, the virtues, and the cult from
time immemorial, given to the servant of God, John Duns Scotus, professed
priest of the Order of Friars Minor, born in Duns Scotland towards the end
of 1265 and died in Cologne Germany on 8th November 1308”.

Many of us here present, including myself, were in St Peter’s Basilica in
Rome to share in the joy of the promulgation of that decree of our late Holy
Father Pope John Paul II.

CONCLUSION:

As you gather at the Symposium in Durham University and as we gather here
this afternoon perhaps we should give some further thought to the relevance
of Blessed John Duns Scotus in our world of today.

He is indeed what we might describe as a “saint for Europe”; we should
realise how his theological thought can help us in the realisation of the
uniqueness of each one of us as an individual; and we should be led on to
ever deeper thought of our union as human beings in the love of God and of
the role of Our Blessed Lady in our redemption.

Underlying it all however should be the realisation that basic to the depth
of his theology and the ability to teach of this the “subtle Doctor” there
was a good holy man, an exemplary friar, a son of St Francis, a wonderful
priest, born and brought up in this beautiful border country of Scotland who
grew throughout his life in his knowledge and love of Our Lord and in his
desire to serve that same Lord in the simplicity of his life as a
Franciscan. May we be strengthened to serve that same Lord and his people
with something of the wisdom and simplicity of Blessed John Duns Scotus.

Cardinal O'Brien and Fr Mc Fadden with the Statue Gifted to Scotus College by the Franciscans.

Blessed John Duns Scotus.

Rector of Scotus College Bearsden Fr Willie Mc Fadden thanks the Franciscan's for their generosity and accepts the statue on behalf of Scotus College.