William of St. Amour
William of St-Amour
A thirteenth century theologian and controversialist, born in Burgundy in the first decades of the thirteenth century; died in Paris about 1273. About the year 1250 he became professor of theology at the University of Paris, and, a few years later, became a leader of the so-called “seculars” at the university in their controversy with the mendicants. In 1256 he published his attack on the mendicants, entitled “De periculis novissimorum temporum”, which was followed ten years later by the “Liber de Antichristo”. In both of these he went outside the merits of the question in dispute and with merciless wit poured ridicule on the ways and manners of the friars, while he attacked the principle of mendicancy as unchristian and savouring rather of Antichrist than of Christ. The first of these treatises was condemned to be burned, and the author was banished from France in a decision rendered at Anagni by Alexander IV in 1256. In 1263 William returned to Paris and resumed his work as a teacher. For an account of the dispute at the University of Paris between the “seculars” and the mendicants, in which William of St-Amour took a most prominent part, see MENDICANT FRIARS.
In the course of time the work “De periculis”, on account of the vehemence of its attack on the very foundation of the mendicant institutions, became a hindrance rather than a help to the advocates of the university’s rights, while on the other side the Franciscans especially were embarrassed by the work entitled “Introductio in evangelium aeternum”, commonly supposed to have been written by John of Parma, General of the Franciscans. It was only long after the death of William of St-Amour that the dispute was ended, although at Paris a compromise had been reached between the university and the Franciscans and, somewhat later, between the university and the Dominicans.
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DENIFLE, Chartularium Univ. Paris., I (Paris, 1889); FERET, La faculte de theologie de Paris, II (Paris, 1895), 46 sqq.; RASHDALL, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, I (Oxford, 1895).
WILLIAM TURNER Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
William of St. Amour
in Burgundy, doctor of the Sorbonne, and a famous defender of the Paris University in the 13th century against the mendicant orders, which claimed the right to occupy regular chairs of theology in the university without consenting to be governed by its rules. Pope Innocent IV had seen the necessity of putting down the monks before his death, but under Alexander IV they obtained full control of the university. Under these circumstances, St. Amour attacked them, ridiculing their doctrine that manual labor is criminal, and that prayer will reap greater harvests from the soil than labor. He was summoned before the bishop of Paris, but acquitted because his accusers did not appear (1254). Alexander, nevertheless, issued three bulls in behalf of the Dominicans in 1255.
In 1256 William published his book De Periculis Novissimoruma Temporum, which, without specifying the orders endorsed by the pope, charged monks generally with being ignorant intruders into the pulpit and the teacher’s chair, and also self-seeking proselyters, as well as professional beggars, liars, flatterers, and calumniators. It asserted directly that perfection consists in labor, in the performing of good works, and not at all in begging. St. Amour achieved great popularity in consequence, and found many imitators among the common people in ridiculing the monks, though the book was condemned by the pope, and its author was banished despite the ingenious defense he interposed at Rome. A French version of the work had already been put into circulation, however, and with such effect that men like Thomas Aquinas and Bonayentura felt constrained to write in defense of mendicancy. The victory achieved over St. Amour enabled the orders to pursue their arbitrary methods without restraint, until the accession of popes Urban IV and Clement IV restored the rules of the university to some degree of honor. St. Amour was thereupon permitted to return, and was not again molested by the Dominicans. His death occurred probably in 1272. See Bulaeus, Hist. Universit. Palis. 3, 260; Dupin, Nouv. Bibl. des Auteurs Eccl. vol 10; Schrckh, Kirchengesch. 27:458 sq.; Hist. Lit. de la France, vol. 19; Herzog, Real Encyklop. s.v.