ST. JOHN BOSCO

Historical & Ecclesial Background

I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

A. Cultural Reality 1. Enlightenment & Neo-

Classicism a. Empiricism (early 1600s – late 1700s)

b. Rationalism (mid-1600s – late 1700s)

2. American Revolution 3. French Revolution 4. Romanticism (late 1700s – mid-1800s)

5. Industrial Revolution 6. Political and Social Upheaval

2

1. The Enlightenment and Neo-Classicism (mid 1600s to late 1700s)

Pope Pius VII in the Sistine Chapel, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique IngresIngres3

a. Empiricism (early 1600s – late 1700s)

Scene from a 1999 play set in 1799 of a family investigating an air pump, by Shelagh StephensonFrom University of Leeds’ blog: https://hpsmuseumleeds.wordpress.com/page/2/ 4

EMPIRICISTS

Nationality: EnglishType: Philosopher

Born: January 21, 1561Died: April 9, 1626

If a man's wit be wandering,

let him studythe mathematics.

http://www.brainyquote.comFrancis Bacon

5

Nationality: ScottishType: PhilosopherBorn: May 7, 1711

Died: August 25, 1776

No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle,

unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its

falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact

which it endeavors to establish.

EMPIRICISTS

David Hume6

George Berkeley

EMPIRICISTSThat thing of hell and eternal punishment is the most absurd, as

well as the most disagreeable, thought that ever entered into

the head of mortal man.

Nationality: IrishType: Philosopher

Born: March 12, 1685Died: January 14, 1753

7

John Stuart Mill

EMPIRICISTSThere are many

truths of which the full meaning

cannot be realized until personal

experience has brought it home.

Nationality: EnglishType: Philosopher

Born: May 20, 1806Died: May 8, 1873

8

John Locke

EMPIRICISTS

No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.

Nationality: EnglishType: Philosopher

Born: August 29, 1632Died: October 28, 1704

9

Nationality: EnglishType: PhilosopherBorn: April 5, 1588

Died: December 4, 1679

EMPIRICISTSThe Papacy is not

other than the Ghost of the

deceased Roman Empire, sitting

crowned upon the grave thereof.

Thomas Hobbes10

William of Ockham

EMPIRICISTS

It is vain to do with more what can be done with

fewer.

Nationality: EnglishType: Philosopher

Born: 1285Died: 1349

11

b. Rationalism(mid-1600s – late 1700s)

Cogito ergosum

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, 190212

RATIONALISTS

René DescartesNationality: French

Type: MathematicianBorn: March 31, 1596

Died: February 11, 1650

The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent

never to trust wholly those who have deceived us

even once.

13

Sir Isaac NewtonNationality: English

Type: MathematicianBorn: December 25, 1642

Died: March 20, 1727

RATIONALISTS

It is the weight, not numbers of

experiments that is to be regarded.

14

Andreas VesaliusNationality: Belgian

Type: Physician, AnatomistBorn: December 31, 1514

Died: October 15, 1564

RATIONALISTSI am not accustomed to

saying anything with certainty after only one or

two observations.

15

Immanuel KantNationality: German

Type: PhilosopherBorn: April 22, 1724

Died: February 12, 1804

RATIONALISTSAll our knowledge begins with the

senses, proceeds then to the

understanding, and ends with

reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

16

Freedom is absolutely necessary for the

progress in science and the liberal arts…

If men were born free, they would, so long as

they remained free, form no conception of good

and evil…

I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of

established religion.

RATIONALISTS

Baruch SpinozaNationality: DutchType: Philosopher

Born: November 24, 1632Died: February 21, 1677 17

2. The American Revolution (1775 – 1783)

18King George III

King of England 1760-1820

19No Taxation without Representation

2. The American Revolution (1775 – 1783)

20

Chaplain Jacob Duché leading the first prayer in the First Continental Congressat Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, September 1774

Granger Collection - artist unknown

21Battle of Lexington April 19, 1775

22

Thomas PaineCommon Sense

23

Declaration of Independence

24Washington crossing the Delaware

Christmas Night, 1776

Thomas JeffersonNationality: American

Type: PresidentBorn: April 13, 1743

Died: July 4, 1826

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with

certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

25

Benjamin Franklin Nationality: American

Type: PoliticianBorn: January 17, 1706

Died: April 17, 1790

The Constitution only gives people

the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch

it yourself.

26

Thomas PaineNationality: English

Type: WriterBorn: January 29, 1737

Died: June 8, 1809

Government, even in its best state, is

but a necessary evil; in its worst

state, an intolerable one... Those who expect

to reap the blessings of

freedom must, like men, undergo the

fatigue of supporting it.

27

Signers of the Declaration of IndependencePhiladelphia, July 4, 1776 28

John Adams Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Franklin

Roger ShermanRobert Livingston

The Drafters of our Declaration

of Independence 29

Benjamin West’s “The Signing of the Treaty of Paris” (September 3, 1783)John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, William Temple Franklin &?30

3. The French Revolution (1789 – 1794) Storming of

theBastille

July 14, 1789

31

Women’s March on Versailles – October 5, 1789 32

Execution of Robespierre – July 28, 1794 33

4. Romanticism (late 1700s – mid-1800s)

34

ROMANTICS

Jean-Jacques RousseauNationality: FrenchType: PhilosopherBorn: June 28, 1712Died: July 2, 1778

No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to

the stake whoever denounced another.

35

ROMANTICS

Edgar Allan PoeNationality: AmericanType: PoetBorn: January 19, 1809Died: October 7, 1849

Beauty of whatever kind, in

its supreme development,

invariably excites the sensitive soul

to tears.

36

ROMANTICS

Nathaniel HawthorneNationality: AmericanType: NovelistBorn: July 4, 1804Died: May 19, 1864

Our Creator would never have made such lovely

days, and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them, above and beyond

all thought, unless we were meant to be

immortal.

37

ROMANTICS

Samuel Taylor ColeridgeNationality: EnglishType: PoetBorn: October 21, 1772Died: July 25, 1834

Our own heart, and not other men's opinions form our true

honor.The most happy marriage I can

picture or imagine to myself would be the union of a deaf man

to a blind woman.The love of a mother is the veil of

a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.

The principle of the Gothic architecture is infinity made

imaginable.

38

ROMANTICS

Wolfang Amadeus MozartNationality: AustrianType: MusicianBorn: January 27, 1756Died: December 5, 1791

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor

imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.

I thank my God for graciously granting me the

opportunity of learning that death is the key which

unlocks the door to our true happiness.

39

ROMANTICS

Franz Joseph HaydnNationality: AustrianType: ComposerBorn: March 31, 1732Died: May 31, 1809

I listened more than I studied...

therefore little by little my knowledge

and ability were developed.

40

ROMANTICS

Ludwig von BeethovenNationality: GermanType: ComposerBorn: December 17, 1770Died: March 26, 1827

Music is a higher revelation than all

wisdom and philosophy... Music

is mediator between spiritual and sensual life.

41

Child Laborers in textile mill

5. The Industrial Revolution Phase I: (mid-1700s – 1830s) 42

43

Coalbrookdale by Night, 180144

A classic from the Shorpy archive of posts past - May 9, 1910. "Newsies atSkeeter’s Branch, Jefferson near Franklin, St. Louis." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. 

45

6. Political and Social Upheaval

Napoleon BonaparteNationality: FrenchType: LeaderBorn: August 15, 1769Died: May 5, 1821

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

46

Vittorio Amedeo III1773-1796 47

The House of Savoy

48

Carlo Emanuele IV1796-1802

In 1800, returning from exile, Charles Emmanuel IV hands full power over the island of Sardegna to Charles Felix and abdicates in favor of his brother,

Victor Emmanuel I, the Duke of Aosta.49

Vittorio Emanuele I1802-1821

50

B. The Church in Turmoil 1. Attacks on the Faith

a. French Laws b. directed at the Papacy

2. Napoleonic Invasions and Legacy

C. The RestorationD. The Risorgimento

51

1. Attacks on the Faith a. French Laws

B. The Church in Turmoil

52

53

B. The Church in Turmoil

February 21, 1798 – Pope Pius VI captured and taken into exile by Napoleon54

Pope Pius VI1775-1799 55

Pope Pius VII 1800-1823 56

Napoleon Bonaparte I57

2. Napoleonic Invasions and Legacy

58

Klemens von Metternich

C. The Restoration

59

Congress of Vienna

60

June 9, 1815

61

Victor Emmanuel I 62

D. The “Risorgimento”

Garibaldi at Palermo by Fattori, 186063

The Carbonari 64

Giuseppe Garibaldi

b. July 4, 1807, Niced. June 2, 1882, Caprera, Italy

65

Garibaldi’s Red Shirts

66

Massimo d’Azeglio

b. Oct. 24, 1798, Turin, Piedmontd. Jan. 15, 1866, Turin

67

Giuseppe Mazzini

born June 22, 1805, Genoa died March 10, 1872, Pisa

68

Camillo Benso di Cavour

born August 10, 1810, Turindied June 6, 1861, Turin

69

Fr. Vincenzo Gioberti

born April 5, 1801, Turin died Nov. 26, 1852, Paris

70

Urbano Rattazzi

born June 20, 1808, Alessandriadied June 5, 1873, Frosinone

71

b. June 25, 1789, Saluzzo,Kingdom of Sardegna

d. Jan. 31, 1854, Turin in Barolo Palace

Le Mie Prigioni

72

Cesare Balbo and Santorre di Santarosa

Santorre di Santarosa

Cesare Balbo 73

A. Casuistry and Degreesof Moral Certainty

1. Tutiorism2. Probabiliorism/Jansenists3. Equiprobabilism/St. Alphonsus de

Liguori4. Probabilism/Jesuits5. Laxism

II. ECCLESIAL BACKGROUND

74

A. Casuistry and Degreesof Moral Certainty

II. ECCLESIAL BACKGROUND

75

B. JansenismCornelius Jansen

the Youngerand the Three Stages of Man

76

Condemnation of 1653

“Cum occasione”

Pope Innocent I77

Port-Royal-des-Champs was an abbey ofCistercian nuns in Magny-les-Hameaux,in the Valléede Chevreuse, southwest of Paris

78

Abbess Angélique

Jean Duverigier de Hauranne

l’abbé de St. Cyran 79

Francis de Sales

80

Blaise Pascal

Probabiliorism& Jesuits

81

82

Bull of 1706, July 16, “Vineam Domini”

Refusal to obey – 1706 Destruction of Convent83

Ruins of Convent today84

Ruins of Convent today85

The nuns tending to the sick 86

Flip side

The nuns giving alms to the poor87

The nuns praying 88

C. St. Alphonsus de Liguori 89

William of Ockham

D. Other Troublesome “isms”

1. Conciliarisma. Canonistsb. Marsiliusc. William of Ockham

90

2. Great Western Schism

Division of loyalties

before 141491

a. Council at Pisa - 1409

92

b. Council of Constance - 1414 93

3. Gallicanisma. Louis XIV

94

D. Other Troublesome “isms” (cont.)

3. Gallicanismb. Ultramontanists

Joseph de Maistre

Félicité de Lammenais

b. Ultramontanists 95

4. Febronianism &

Josephinism

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790. He was the brother of Marie Antoinette.

Born: March 13, 1741 Vienna, Austria

Died: February 20, 1790 Vienna, Austria 96

A. Fr. Luigi Guala

III. Return to “l’Ancien Régime”

97

B. Pius VII visits Modena on return from exile98

Kingdom of Sardegna

99

PIEDMONT

SARDEGNA

Palazzo Reale, Torino

100

D. Comparative Timeline of the Year of

St. John Bosco’s Birth

101

SOURCE READINGS: BM VOLS. I-V; Lenti Vol. I Chaps. 1 & 2; and too many others too numerous to name

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE SERIES: BM: Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco; MO: Memoirs of the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales by St. John Bosco; SDB: Stories of Don Bosco by Fr. Peter Lappin, SDB; Lenti: Don Bosco: History and Spirit, 7 vols. by Fr. Arthur J. Lenti, SDB; Giraudo: DB Lived Here by Don Aldo Giraudo, SDB