The Ideal Bishop: Aquinas’s Commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles

293 Pages·2017·3.91 MB·English

by  Michael G. Sirilla

Michael Sirilla exemplifies the careful, sustained study of St. Thom-
as Aquinas as an interpreter of Sacred Scripture. Sirilla has not only
enriched our understanding of St. Thomas on Scripture, he has also
substantially enriched our understanding of St. Thomas on the office
of bishop. Sirilla’s analysis of St. Thomas’s commentaries on Timothy
and Titus and their intellectual and historical circumstances illumi-
nates in new ways the thought of the Angelic Doctor.
—John F. Boyle, University of St. Thomas
The life of St. Thomas Aquinas was one of ecclesial service. Michael
G. Sirilla has performed a true work of service to the Church and has
contributed a valuable text to the corpus of Thomistic literature. This
book helps show how Aquinas’s religious consecration as a Domini-
can priest placed him and his work—then and now—at the center of
the Church.
— Romanus Cessario, OP, Saint John’s Seminary,
Brighton, Massachusetts
Michael Sirilla’s superbly researched and astutely argued work fills
an important lacuna in Aquinas studies—regarding his biblical com-
mentaries as well as his theology of the ecclesial hierarchy. At the same
time it is a timely contribution to contemporary ecclesiology and es-
pecially to the theology of the bishop. The Second Vatican Council
advanced the theology of the bishop in crucial ways. But The Ideal
Bishop amply demonstrates how fresh and relevant Aquinas’s view is
precisely now in the wake of the last ecumenical council’s teaching
on the episcopacy. No serious Aquinas scholar and no contemporary
ecclesiologist can afford to ignore this important book. Tolle lege, take
and read!
—Reinhard Hütter, Duke University
The theme of this important book could be summed up as ‘hierarchy
and holiness.’ As Michael Sirilla shows in his erudite investigation of
Aquinas’s commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles, Aquinas recognized
the supreme need for bishops to love the truth of the gospel and to be
willing to lay down their lives rather than to compromise the ability
of the flock to pursue holiness. Against an overly juridical ecclesiolo-
gy, which sees only the administrative tasks of maintaining order and
filling the pews (often by cultural accommodation), Aquinas’s vision
of the episcopacy lives up to Vatican II’s universal call to holiness—a
holiness that is inevitably costly and counter-cultural for bishop and
layperson alike.
— Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr.
Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary
Michael Sirilla’s The Ideal Bishop is important for anyone wanting to
see what resources of doctrine and tradition St. Thomas brings to his
reading of Scripture, and how St. Thomas’s systematic theology is in
turn embedded in his close reading of the word of God. It is more im-
portant, however, for helping us understand the nature and structure
of the Church Christ instituted. We really are all called to help one
another grow in charity. Nowhere is that more true than with those
who occupy the difficult but grace-filled and grace-giving office of
bishop.
—Fr. Guy Mansini, Saint Meinrad Seminary
The Ideal Bishop
Sirilla, Michael G.
Published by The Catholic University of America Press
Sirilla, G..
The Ideal Bishop.
Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2017.
Project MUSE., https://muse.jhu.edu/.
For additional information about this book
https://muse.jhu.edu/book/49705
Access provided by Tulane University (9 Dec 2018 04:18 GMT)
The Ideal Bishop
thomistic ressourcement series
Volume 8
series editors
Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary
Thomas Joseph White, OP, Dominican House of Studies
editorial board
Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas
Gilles Emery, OP, University of Fribourg
Reinhard Hütter, Duke University
Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University
Emmanuel Perrier, OP, Dominican Studium, Toulouse
Richard Schenk, OP, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Kevin White, The Catholic University of America
The Ideal Bishop
Aquinas’s Commentaries on
the Pastoral Epistles
Michael G. Sirilla
Foreword by
Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, OP
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2017
The Catholic University of America Press
All Rights Reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standards for Information
Science—Permanence of Paper Printed for Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984
∞
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the
Library of Congress
ISBN 978-0-8132-2910-2
For my dear father, George Michael Sirilla
May he rest in Christ’s peace