Theological Foundations new file

205 A Theological Evaluation delight in it. There is nothing so sublime in the entire theology, nothing so difficult or unclear in philosophy, that he would not be able to explain; nothing so incomprehensible that he could not elucidate; noth- ing so deeply hidden and tangled up that he could not bring to the sur- face and untangle. Indeed, he does all this in such a terse manner that it seems that there is as much meaning in his writings as there are words. In short sentences he contains everything about a subject on which other Doctors [of the Church] composed large volumes. Furthermore, the clar- ity of his teaching, its precision, the division of and the mutual connec- tion among various issues are so wonderful that when his teaching is compared to the physical light, it seems to be nothing else but the light.” 11 Father Papczynski claims that the teaching of St. Thomas is accepted or at least admired by almost all Churches. In his opinion, this teaching is like an ocean of knowledge and a refreshing and enriching source for the Church. Father Matulaitis-Matulewicz also held St. Thomas in high regard. He made him a patron of the renovated congregation 12 and ordered that the Marians complete their philosophical and theological studies according to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor. 13 Father Matulaitis-Matulewicz often referred to St. Thomas in his lec- tures at the Religious Academy in St. Petersburg. One of his students, Father Marian Wisniewski, remembers: “Our theology lectures were characterized by his typical clarity and logic, one might add — simplic- ity. He was not stilted, he did not strain after lofty phraseology or use- less subtleties. Occasionally, however, as if wanting to train us in more subtle thinking or to demonstrate the precision of St. Thomas Aquinas’s reasoning, he would venture into such abstractions that our heads were spinning.” 14 Other great authorities regarded by both the Venerable Servant of God Stanislaus and Blessed George were the holy founders of religious orders, the writers of the Church and the authors of textbooks on asceti- cism. Eugeniusz Jarra made an effort to locate their names in the writ- ings of the Founder of the Marians. One’s head begins to spin upon the