On Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange

Now that the interest in father Garrigou-Lagrange is rapidly growing, not at least due to the many English translations by Matthew Minerd, scholarly articles are appearing as well.

The latest issue of Archivum Fratrum Predicatorum (2021) contains three highly interesting articles.

Sylvio Hermann De Franceschi continues his research on the formation of a distinctively Dominican and Thomistic idea of mysticism which father Garrigou-Lagrange developed in the late 1910’s and early 1920’s and which culminated in his Perfection chrétienne et contemplation. His most recent article (“La contemplation selon la moderne École dominicaine de spiritualité. La querelle mystique au temps de la suprematie des theses Garrigou-Lagrangiennes (1923-1928)”, 349-376) discusses the aftermath of the publication of the book and its reception by the Jesuit order.

The two other articles draw heavily on the archives of the Dominican Order but also on the archives of the pontificate of Pius XII, which were opened to the public in 2020. Father Augustin Laffay (“Le père Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange et Maria Sieler (1939-1945): La rencontre romaine d’un théologien et d’une mystique”, 377-400) explores a hitherto unknown conversation between father Garrigou-Lagrange and the Austrian mystic Maria Sieler, whose “understanding of divine things … is similar to the language of Garrigou-Lagrange’s spiritual theology”.

Philippe Chenaux (“Maritain devant le Saint-Office: le rôle du père Garrigou-Lagrange, OP”, 401-420) explores Garrigou-Lagrange’s role as censor of Maritain’s political writings by way of analysis of two vota which Garrigou-Lagrange composed in the late 1950’s as a consultor of the Holy Office. These vota were to serve as a preparation for a list of erroneous propositions to be published but without mentioning Maritain’s name. The article contains a letter written in November 1957 by Garrigou-Lagrange at the behest of Pius XIII to Maritain but never send to him. Although Garrigou-Lagrange recognizes Maritain’s best intentions, he also remarks that Maritain has insufficiently taken into account the principles of catholic doctrine and also the fact that many of Maritain’s disciples have defended more extreme positions on the basis of his writings. In the letter Garrigou-Lagrange asks Maritain to write an article in a major journal (“dans une grande Revue”) in which Maritain clarifies his position in light of the encyclicals of Leo XIII. Garrigou-Lagrange adds that “this would be the best way to prevent Integral Humanism from being withdrawn from publication.”