Claude Frassen (1620 – 26 February 1711) was a French

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

Scotist Scotism is the philosophical school and theological system named after John Duns Scotus, a 13th-century Scottish philosopher-theologian. The word comes from the name of its originator, whose ''Opus Oxoniense'' was one of the most important ...

theologian and philosopher.

Life

Frassen was born near Péronne, France. He entered the Franciscan Order at Peronne in his seventeenth year; and after the year of

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

was sent to Paris, where he completed his studies and remained for thirty years as professor of philosophy and theology. In 1662 he was made doctor of the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, and as

definitor general {{Catholic Church hierarchy sidebar, Administrative and pastoral titles In the Catholic Church, a definitor (Latin for 'one who defines') is a title with different specific uses. There are secular definitors, who have a limited amount of oversight ...

, to which office he was elected in 1682, he took part in the general chapters of the order at Toledo and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Outside of the order his counsel was sought not only by ecclesiastics but likewise by secular dignitaries,

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

, in particular, holding him in high esteem. He died in Paris, at the age of 91 years, 74 of which he had spent in religion.

Works

* ''Scotus Academicus'' (1901), the best known of the writings of Frassen. This work is rightly considered one of the most important and scholarly presentations of the theology of

Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...

. Few, if any, of the numerous interpreters and commentators of Scotus have succeeded so well as Frassen in combining simplicity of style and clearness of method with that subtleness of thought which characterizes Scotistic theology as a whole. The value of the work is enhanced by frequent quotations from the

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

, and by an impartial statement of all controversial questions in

scholastic theology Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...

. The first volume is prefaced with a chronological list and a brief historical and dogmatical account of the different heresies from the beginnings of Christianity to the fifteenth century. The edition of the ''Scotus Academicus'' published by the Friars Minor (Rome, 1900–02, in twelve volumes) was prepared from notes left by the author himself and preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris. Earlier editions were those of Paris (1672–77), Rome (1721), Venice (1744). * ''Philosophia Academica'' quam ex selectissimis Illustriorum Philosophorum (1786) * ''Cursus Philosophiae'', Paris (1688), Venice (1767) * ''Disquisitiones Biblicae'', volume I, Paris (1682). Chronological indexes: Codices Hebrew, Septante and Samaritan from Adam to Noe First Era (p. 74); Tables Annorum Sabaticorum & Jubilaeorum (p. 273). ''Note'': The year of jubilee or year of redeem that falls right after the period of 7 weeks of years is to be isolated in the calendar, i.e. independent from the previous and following period of 49 years. Frassen has placed it ahead of the 49 years period as part of first year). * ''Disquisitiones in Pentateuchum'', volume II, Rouen (1705)

References

*Schmutz, Jacob, "Frassen, Claude (1620–1711)", in :

Dictionary of Seventeenth Century French Philosophers The ''Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century French Philosophers'' is a dictionary of philosophical writers in France between 1601 and 1700, edited by Luc Foisneau. An augmented and revised French edition has been published in 2015. Content The ''D ...

, ed. Luc Foisneau, London - New York : Thoemmes - Continuum, 2008, vol. I, 500–504

External links

''Catholic Encyclopedia'' article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frassen, Claude 1620 births 1711 deaths French Franciscans 17th-century French Catholic theologians Scotism French philosophers French male writers