Edward Aloysius Synan (13 April 1918 – 3 August 1997) was a philosopher, theologian, and professor at the

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS) is a research institute in the University of Toronto that is dedicated to advanced studies in the culture of the Middle Ages. Governance The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, currently Th ...

. In addition to authoring and editing several books, Synan published over eighty journal articles on subjects ranging from early

patristics Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

to late

scholasticism 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 ...

Biography

Synan was born in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

, but grew up in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,"Junior Class President"
''

Bergen Evening Record ''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and P ...

'', Hackensack, New Jersey, volume 42, number 119, October 24, 1936, page 10. In 1938 he graduated from

Seton Hall College Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the ...

and entered seminary for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Newark. From there he was sent to the American College of Louvain. When the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

forced him to return to the United States, he resumed his study of theology at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

. In 1942 he received his license in sacred theology and was ordained to the priesthood. Synan served as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

from 1944 to 1948. In 1948, he matriculated into the

at 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 ...

, where he earned his M.A. (1950), his Licentiate in Medieval Studies (1951), and his Ph.D. (1952). During this time, Synan studied under

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 ...

, while his thesis was directed by one of Gilson's students, Anton Charles Pegis. At Pegis's eulogy, Synan remarked, "No teacher is more truly the friend of a graduate student than is the one who insures, whether by encouragement, or by cajolery, or by severity, that the doctorate not turn into a life-time project." Synon taught philosophy at Seton Hall University until 1959, when he was invited to return to the Pontifical Institute in Toronto. He taught history of medieval philosophy there until his death in 1997, and served as president of the Pontifical Institute from 1973 to 1979, and again from 1989–1990. He is buried at the

Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Montclair Immaculate Conception Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in the Upper Montclair neighborhood of Montclair in New Jersey, United States.http://www.pulitzer.org/files/finalists/2013/diionno2013/diionno06.pdf Notable burials * Angelo Bertelli ( ...

, New Jersey.

Selected works

*''The Popes and the Jews in the Middle Ages'' (Macmillan, 1965) *''The Works of Richard of Campsall'' (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1968–1982)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Synan, Edward A. 1918 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century American Roman Catholic theologians People from Fall River, Massachusetts People from Ridgewood, New Jersey Military personnel from Massachusetts Military personnel from New Jersey Seton Hall University alumni University of Toronto alumni Writers from Massachusetts Writers from New Jersey Catholic University of America alumni United States Air Force chaplains Seton Hall University faculty Academic staff of the University of Toronto