PAGE 2  

Lombard entered Louvain University to study philosophy and theology.  The original university, the oldest in Belgium, was founded by a bull issued by Pope Martin V in 1425.  During the 16th century faculty membes included Justus Lipsius[18] (1547-1606), the Flemish humanist, classical scholar, and moral and political theorist and Gerardus Mercator[19] (1512-94) the Flemish geographer, cartographer and mathematician. At that time Louvain was the chief centre of anti-Reformation thought. The University comprised twenty-nine colleges and it was considered to be one of the finest in the world.  Its international reputation attracted students from all over the world and, for over a century, it had an intimate connection with Waterford.  It had sent a stream of priests into the city and diocese and, in return, Waterford sent to Louvain, and Belgium, some of its greatest professors like Lombard and Hearn[20].  Another connection with Waterford was that Dr. White was a disciple and admirer of the Dutch scholar and humanist Desiderius Erasmus[21] (1469-1536) and all White’s pupils, including Lombard, were well trained in humanist philosophy. In 1517 Erasmus had become involved with the founding of Louvain's Trilingual College, "the school of the new learning in Europe," where chairs of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew were endowed.

        Lombard entered Le Faucon College in 1572 and at the completion of his philosophy course, in 1575, he graduated “primus inter pares” (first among his peers).  It is interesting to Waterfordians to note that, on the 23^rd of June in that same year, he composed the customary Latin ode on the occasion of the graduation, as Doctor of Divinity, of Nicholas Comerford[22], his great friend and fellow Waterfordman.  Comerford had been a priest in the Waterford diocese but he was expelled for non-conformity and it was then that he began his study at Louvain (He had previously studied at Oxford).  Lombard’s ode was published under the title of “Carmen Heroicum in Doctoratum Nicolai Comerford.”  That poem and only one other work “Carmina in Laudem Comitis Ormoniae” are all that we have of Lombard’s writings at this early stage in his career.

In about 1578, Lombard, after gaining his Doctorate in Divinity and being ordained, would have hoped for a speedy return to the Waterford mission but his brilliance as a student ensured that the authorities in Louvain would not want to lose him and he was retained, first as Professor of Philosophy and then as Professor of Theology.  He was only 25 years old.  He was appointed Provost of the Cathedral of Cambrai in 1594 and his future life seemed to be mapped out for him as a professor and cathedral administrator but new honours and challenges were lying in wait for him.  In the 1570’s the University had come under suspicion of doctrinal errors related to Michael Baius (1513-89), a professor in Lombard’s theology faculty in Louvain.  Baius, was accused of heretical teaching regarding the nature of grace, predestination and free will.  These teachings were later resurrected by the Flemish theologian and Bishop of Ypres, Cornelis Jansen, and formed the basis of Jansenism.  Briefly, this heresy relied on a rigid interpretation of one aspect of St. Augustine’s philosophy of predestination.  Baius, and Jansen, taught that man is incapable of being saved without the unsolicited grace of God and, therefore, is destined to be either saved or damned and only a chosen few would be saved.  This was so close to the teaching of John Calvin (the Jansenists were accused of being Calvinists in disguise) that Pope Gregory XIII issued a Bull in 1579 condemning the errors of Baius.  In fairness to Baius he retracted his errors before he died in 1588 but the ‘genie’ had been let out of the bottle.  The influence of Baius persisted in the University for a full ten years (although the Papal Bull was accepted by the professors and students of the University) until a doctrinal declaration was drawn up by the professors at Louvain, and of the equally famous Catholic University of Douai, declaring their full adherence to the orthodox doctrines of the Catholic Church.  Peter Lombard was chosen to carry the declaration to the Holy See and he was also chosen as the University spokesman in the new controversy that had arisen, between the Jesuit and the Dominicans.  The controversy concerned the nature of Supernatural Grace but it was also rooted in a power struggle between the two great Orders. 

The Jesuits lined up behind the Spanish Jesuit Luis de Molina[23] (1535-1600) and the Dominicans behind their great Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas[24] (1225-1274).  The ‘Grace’ controversy arose from the deliberations of the Council of Trent[25], called to address the many questions posed by the Protestants.  After the Council, two schools of thought emerged in the Catholic Church concerning Divine Grace.  Both parties agreed that grace was necessary but the Dominicans maintained that it was the nature of grace that was important (echoes of Michael Baius) and the Jesuits maintained that what was important was not the nature of grace but the use that man made of that grace.  In this secular age it must seem extraordinary that such a debate could ever take place and could take up so much time – the debate lasted ten years and was never satisfactorily resolved.  Argument had raged for a long time, with contributions from the Spanish and Portugese Inquisitions before, eventually, the matter was brought, formally, before Pope Clement VIII in 1597 (The Pope set up a commission in 1601 to debate the matter and it was to this commission that Lombard was sent by Louvain).  In 1598 a special Congregation of cardinals, bishops and theologians was set up to examine the matter and it was this Congregation that eventually led to the famous Congregation de Auxiliis of which Lombard was President. 

In 1601 the Pope consecrated Lombard as Archbishop of Armagh.  His appointment was registered on July 9^th, 1601 as follows:

“In Quirinale, die lunae 9° Julii, 1601.  Referente Cardinale Mattheio Sua Sanctitas providit Ecclesiae Metropolitanae Armachanae, quae est Primatialis et prima Metropolis Regni Hiberniae, vacanti per obitum Edmundi, de persona Petri Lombardi cum retentione Praepoiturae una cum canonicatu quam obtinet in Ecclesia Cameracensi et alterius canonicatus quem obtinet in Collegiata Ecclesia Siclinensi Tornacensis Diocesis.”[26]  

In 1602 the Pope decreed that the Congregation should hold its public debates in his presence and at the same time he appointed Lombard as a member of the Congregation.  Furthermore, Lombard was deputed to act, in the Pope’s absence, as President of the Private Conferences and he held this position until the Congregation was dissolved in 1607.  Clement VIII died and was succeeded by Leo XI but the latter also died, shortly after his election, and it was to Pope Paul V that Lombard, as President of the Congregation, addressed a letter asking the Pontiff to decide on the controversy.

“…your elevation, Most Holy Father, gives us hope that the past labours will be crowned with success, and that you, as Pontiff, will happily decide the controversy, in which hitherto, as Cardinal, you have had such an important part…And, as some time ago...you wished me to draw up a paper presenting in detail the many reasons which require the prompt decision of this controversy, I now have perfected the work, which then, through sickness, I was unable to undertake; and I am happy to be able to address to you, as Sovereign Pontiff, the document which you yourself, as Cardinal, desired me to compose.”[27]

The Pope, after several sessions, ordered the members of the Congregation to meet in the Archbishop’s house and there draw up their various resolutions for submission to him.  When this was done the Pope appointed Lombard to prepare a draft of the Papal Bull.  The Pope approved of Lombard’s draft but the majority of the members dissented.  The Secretary of the Congregation then prepared a second draft, but Lombard, as President, refused to sign.  The matter was left to the Pope and the Congregation was closed without reaching a decision.

Page 3