The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

202 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the line for further theological development was clearly traced
out. Just as the raising of the four principal Greek Fathers
to the dignity of Doctors of the Church signified ecclesiastical
approval of the efforts which had been made to spread the
knowledge of the Greek Fathers in the Latin Church, and to
place them side by side and on equal terms with those of the
west, so the conferring of the same honour on St. Thomas was
an ecclesiastical approval and a solemn confirmation of those
schools of theology which, ever since the beginning of the
century had made the writings of Aquinas the basis of all
theological teaching, and which, by following him, had paved
the way for a further development of ecclesiastical science.^
All scientific and literary activity found, generally speaking,
an intelligent patron in Pius V., a man himself of keen intellect.
Wherever in the world any useful scientific work was produced
by Catholics, the Pope was quick to help it with his encouragement
and assistance. He found time to praise the canon,
Martin Cromer, in far off Cracow,'^ and the Imperial councillor,
Georg Eder,^ as well as the learned Augustinian, Panvinio,
and Girolamo Muzio, who were close at hand. At the same
time the light of his favour did not shine only on the champions
of approved antiquity, or on behalf of those things which,
like dogma and canon law, interested him personally. During
the XVIth century there was a great activity in the theological
sciences ; new branches of learning were springing up, and
Pius V. gladly extended his protection to the tender plants.
The name of his brother in religion, Sisto da Siena, the founder
1 Modern scholasticism is distinguished from the old by the fact
of its adherence to Thomas Aquinas, and by its closer union of
positive with speculative theology (Chr. Pesch, Praelect. dogm.,
T^, Freiburg in Breisg., 1915, 26). These two things found expres-
sion in the raising of Thomas Aquinas and the four Greek Fathers
to the position of Doctors of the Church.
^ *Brief of February 18, 1569, Brevia, Arm. 44, t. 40, p. 26,
Papal Secret Archives. For what follows cf. supra p. 129 seqq.
'Brief of January 2, 1569, ibid. t. 13, \. 286, which is printed
in the beginning of the later editions of Eder's book. N. Paulus
in Hist.-polit. Blatter, CXV. (1895), 25.