The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS) is a research institute in the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

that is dedicated to advanced studies in the culture of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Governance

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, currently

Thomas Christopher Collins Thomas Christopher Collins (born January 16, 1947) is a Canadian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has been the Archbishop of Toronto since 2007. He was previously Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta from 1997 to 1999 and Archbishop of Edmont ...

, acts as the chancellor of the institute. The Praeses (or president) of the institute is Augustine Thompson, O.P.

History

It was founded in 1929 as the Institute of Mediaeval Studies at St. Michael's College of the University of Toronto.

Étienne Gilson Étienne Henri Gilson (; 13 June 1884 – 19 September 1978) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes; he also philosophized in the tradition o ...

, then 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, ...

, was instrumental in its foundation, along with

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and St. Michael's College. In 1939 it was granted a

pontifical A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...

charter by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

, by which it was given the power to grant

licenciate A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. It may be similar to a master's degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universities in Europe, Latin A ...

and doctorate degrees in

medieval studies Medieval studies is the academic interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages. Institutional development The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books ...

. In 1964 the University of Toronto established the Centre for Medieval Studies as part of the School of Graduate Studies, for students pursuing a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

. Teaching at these levels gradually passed from the institute to the centre. (The centre officially uses the spelling "medieval" while PIMS uses "mediaeval".) Students of the Centre for Medieval Studies have access to the PIMS building and library. Up until 1958 the institute had its own charter. From 1958 to 2005, PIMS was a division of the University of St. Michael's College. The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Act of 2005 gave the institute academic autonomy from the university, with which, however, it remains affiliated. Under the act, PIMS is administered by a board of governors with its academic affairs vested in the Institute Council of the academic staff, consisting of fellows and associate fellows.

Postdoctoral Program and Licence in Mediaeval Studies

In 1998 the institute became an exclusively postdoctoral research centre, and it accepts students who have recently completed their doctoral studies and wish to conduct specialized research in medieval studies. PIMS offers a Licence in Mediaeval Studies (LMS) as a degree exclusively for students who have completed their postdoctoral studies there. (The application for the LMS refers to it as a " Licentiate" and not as a "Licence.") Unusually for a Pontifical licentiate, the degree is awarded after its bearer has already earned a doctorate, and not on the way to such.

Étienne Gilson Lecture

Since 1979 the institute has hosted an annual lecture from "a senior medievalist" in honour of its co-founder and his research interests. Previous lecturers include

Jaroslav Pelikan Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. (December 17, 1923 – May 13, 2006) was an American scholar of the history of Christianity, Christian theology, and medieval intellectual history at Yale University. Early years Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. was born on Dec ...

Mark D. Jordan Mark D. Jordan (born 1953/54) is a scholar of Christian theology, European philosophy, and gender studies. He is currently the Richard Reinhard Niebuhr Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School and Professor of the Studies of Women, ...

, John F. Wippel, Peter Brown, and

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. Lectures have been given on topics such as

medieval philosophy Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...

medieval art The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, gen ...

, medicine in the Middle Ages, and medieval

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

Library

The institute has its own

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

with over 150,000 volumes, one of the largest collections of medieval documentation in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. The library is part of the larger system of the University of Toronto Libraries. The library contains over 9,000 reels of

microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...

and over 60,000 slides. Materials are non-circulating, and use of the library is generally restricted to PIMS and Centre for Medieval Studies faculty, researchers, and graduate students, though visitor passes may be obtained by contacting the library itself.

Publishing

PIMS also has an extensive publishing program that includes its annual journal of research on the Middle Ages, ''Mediaeval Studies'', which began in 1939. In 2004, it had reached the 66th volume. A collection of Gilson Lectures focusing on

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...

was published in 2008.

Faculty and fellows

Faculty and research fellows, visiting and otherwise, associated with PIMS have included: *

Leonard Boyle Leonard Eugene Boyle, OP, (13 November 1923 – 25 October 1999), was an Irish and Canadian scholar in medieval studies and palaeography. He was the first Irish and North American Prefect of the Vatican Library in Rome from 1984 to 1997. He ...

(1923–1999), sometime Prefect of the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

Osmund Lewry Patrick Osmund Lewry (1929–1987) was an English Dominican who made significant contributions to the history of logic and the philosophy of language in the thirteenth century. Lewry studied mathematical logic under Lejewski and A.N. Prior at ...

(1929–1987), intellectual historian, specializing in philosophy *

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

(1882–1973), French Catholic philosopher *

John Marenbon John Alexander Marenbon, FBA (born 26 August 1955) is a British philosopher and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. His principal area of specialization is medieval philosophy. Career He obtained his BA, MA, PhD, and DLitt from the Universi ...

(b. 1955), scholar of medieval philosophy * Joseph Owens (1908–2005), scholar of

scholastic philosophy 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 ...

* C. J. Ryan (1943–2004), Italian studies scholar

References

External links

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval StudiesCentre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies University of Toronto Medieval studies research institutes Educational institutions established in 1929 Pontifical universities Research institutes in Canada 1929 establishments in Ontario