Another post for Scotus month. Here are some photos from the recent Newman-Scotus Symposium held at the Washington Theological Union on Oct 22-24, 2010. Photos by Fr. Martin Breski, OFM Conv.

Washington Theological Union

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Fr. Edward Ondrako, OFM Conv. organizer par excellance

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The presenters and organizers.

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Some attendees from the Conventual Franciscan Seminary

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Discussions abound

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Drinking on the job (coffee), me at the the FI book stall.

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Two book stalls, the FIs and another local theological book seller toward the back.

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Much of the art in the building was modern and strange but I liked this one.

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The library was pretty nice.

They had some beautiful models of churches on display in the lobby.

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Here’s another

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The welcoming committee and able assistant oraganizer.

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Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. gives the opening address

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Some attendees

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Rev. Dr. John Ford, C.S.C., editor of Newman Studies and Professor of Historical Theology at the Catholic University of America gave the first lecture of the symposium

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Dr. Timothy Noone, Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America and member of the International Scotus Commission gives the second talk.

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These attentive attendees are also presenters.

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Seminarians during a break

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Fr. Peter Fehlner, FI and Dr. Timothy Noone having a discussion. Someone has to tell that other friar not to look at the camera!

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Fr. Peter in full swing giving the third lecture

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Making a sale, … er donation.

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The panel discussion

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Deacon Jack Sullivan gives his personal testimony on the miracle that happened to him which led to the beatification of John Cardinal Newman.

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One of the only remaining first class relics of Cardinal Newman, clippings from his hair brought to the symposium by Deacon Jack.

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The relic being venerated.

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The cafeteria

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Lunch with laughter

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Dominican nun with her black and white habit and matching black and white computer.

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Even Dominicans can enjoy a good Scotistic talk

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“Wait, are you trying tell me that prime matter actually exists?!!”

Just kidding, making up a Franciscan caption. (Whether prime matter exists by itself or not is a hotly debated subject between Franciscans and Dominicans but such contentious issues were not discussed at the symposium)

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Sr. Mary Beth Ingham gives the Keynote Address for the Symposium.

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Fr. Edward Ondrako gives his lecture

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Clearing up those lingering questions

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Another round of lectures

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The Chapel at WTU

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Inside the Chapel at CTU

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Sr. Pat Hutchison, OSF, Ed.D gives the summary statements

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Seminarians guarding the rear … and the gear.

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Fr. Breski’s cool cameras.

Stay tuned for the videos.

Ave Maria!

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Fi News #73 – Duns Scoto, trailer of the dramatic film of the life of Bl. John Duns Scotus ( 14min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

As part of our grand finale for our Scotus Month we have a repost of the trailer for the  feature length film we recently completed on the life of Bl. John Duns Scotus. It is in Italian but there should be a DVD available in the US with English subtitles early 2011.

The FIs in Italy have finished their first trailer for the feature length film Duns Scoto on the life of Blessed John Duns Scotus that we mentioned in an earlier post. It is more of a behind-the-scenes view of the making of the movie. All the actual footage of the movie is raw with the time stamp running. But it powerfully shows the magnitude of the project and how beautiful and dramatic the finished edition will be. Yes, it is in Italian. We hope to get an English subtitled version out soon. Enjoy!

Ave Maria!

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The post Video – Fi News #73: First Trailer of Duns Scotus Film first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Our recently completed feature length film on the life of Bl. John Duns Scotus has been selected as the official movie of the upcoming World Youth Day in Madrid Aug 16-21 2011. Our Italian friars just watched the whole film for the first time as an institute on Sunday, Dec 26. Below is a special poster we made for the occasion complete with the Madrid WYD (JMJ) logo. A rough trailer can be seen here. The DVD should be available with English subtitles in early 2011. We will keep you posted.

The translation of the poster is as follows

Duns Scotus

The Doctor of the Immaculate

Producer: Fr. Alfonso M. Bruno, FI

Director: Fernando Muraca

With Adriano Braidotti as John Duns Scotus

Official Movie of the Madrid World Youth Day 2011

John Duns Scotus successfully defends Mary’s Immaculate Conception in the dispute at the University of Paris in 1305

December 8th 1854 Pope Pius the IX solemnly proclaims the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary

Beatified by John Paul II on March 2oth, 1993

Exclusive preview for the Franciscans of the Immaculate on Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 9pm in the auditorium of St. Mary of Nazareth Parish, Casalotti, Rome

Ave Maria!

The post Fi News – Our Duns Scotus Film Selected for World Youth Day Madrid first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Heavenly Father, You filled John Duns Scotus with wisdom, and through his life and teaching gave us a witness of Your Incarnate love. May we come to understand more deeply what he taught so that we may live in ever growing charity.  

Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed John Duns Scotus:

O Most High, Almightily and gracious Lord, Who exalts the humble and confounds the proud of heart, grant us the great joy of seeing Blessed John Duns Scotus canonized. He honored Your Son with the most sublime praises; he was the first to successfully defend the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; he lived in heroic obedience to the Holy Father, to the Church and to the Seraphic Order. O most holy Father, God of infinite love, hear, we beseech You, our humble prayer, thorough the merits of Your Only-Begotten Son and His Mother, the Gate of Heaven and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

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Variety #173 – statue of Blessed John Duns Scotus in Cassino, Italy ( 7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

In honor of the feast of one of the patrons of our FI house of studies (S.T.I.M.) here in Italy, we present this video of the Holy Mass celebrated in 2010 in Rome in the extraordinary form, with our co-founder Father Gabriele.  It’s a mixture of highlights and music from the Mass, as well as some thoughts from our blessed scholastic philosopher/theologian, who died in 1308.  The text is in both Italian and English.

Ave Maria!

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Well, since we are celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception today, I thought it would be a good time to give a long overdue mention of our John Duns Scotus DVD called “Blessed Duns Scotus, Defender of the Immaculate Conception” which is now available with English subtitles exclusively through Ignatius Press.

Blessed Duns Scotus Defender of the Immaculate Conception
	Availability: – In Stock Length: 85 minutes Edition: DVD Code: BDS-M Retail Price: $19.95 Web Sale Price: $17.95

The inspiring true story of the holy Franciscan priest and theologian who won a famous debate against the Dominicans in the 13th century in which he defended Our Lady’s great privilege of her Immaculate Conception, laying the groundwork for the Church to later define that as a dogma of the Catholic faith. Filmed in beautiful ancient monastery locations in Europe, Scotus is revealed as a humble and courageous apostle of the Faith against the oppressive anti-Catholic government in power. His public defense of the papacy as the head of the Church eventually got him thrown out of the country.

An important film for Americans since the Immaculate Conception is the Patroness of the USA, this acclaimed feature film stars Italian actor Adriano Braidotti in an award-winning performance as Blessed John Duns Scotus, who was Beatified by John Paul II. The movie won major awards for Best Movie and Best Actor at the 2011 International Catholic Film Festival.

This DVD contains the following language options: Italian with English and Spanish subtitles

This is a Region 1 DVD (playable ONLY in Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, United States and U.S. territories).

Sample images from the film:

via Blessed Duns Scotus – : Ignatius.

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The theology of John Duns Scotus (Feast day is November 8th) is that of defense of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. His eloquence, reason, and rational thought on the subject—joined with a faithful heart to the doctrine of the Church– led the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV to approve the liturgical office of this Marian feast in 1480. In 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX officially declared a dogma of faith the doctrine on the Immaculate Conception.

One of the outstanding figures in the Franciscan Order during the 19th century, the venerable servant of God Gabriele Maria Allegra OFM wrote of John Duns: “I see Scotus as the Doctor of the Immaculate Conception, of Christ as king of the universe, of the Church as the bride of Christ, as a defender of Christ’s vicar on earth, as a theologian of the mystery of the Eucharist.”

Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed John Duns Scotus:
O Most High, Almightily and gracious Lord, Who exalts the humble and confounds the proud of heart, grant us the great joy of seeing Blessed John Duns Scotus canonized. He honored Your Son with the most sublime praises; he was the first to successfully defend the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; he lived in heroic obedience to the Holy Father, to the Church and to the Seraphic Order. O most holy Father, God of infinite love, hear, we beseech You, our humble prayer, thorough the merits of Your Only-Begotten Son and His Mother, the Gate of Heaven and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

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Fi News #138 – Unveiling and blessing of the statue. ( 02min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

On December 12th, 2012, His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke blessed a newly unveiled statue of Blessed John Dun Scotus in front of the Friary Chapel at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI.

Following the ceremony His Eminence gave an account of the Blessed’s life and the great theological contribution he made to the Church, especially in regards to the declaration of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To read the full text of the Cardinal’s talk please click here for the pdf.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

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Today we all must be dunces for Christ!

That’s right. Saturday, November 8th, is Bl. John Duns Scotus’ feast day from whom the term “dunce” was derisively coined by both Protestants (with their God-alone doctrine) and Renaissance Humanists (with their man-alone doctrine). Centuries earlier, Scotus taught a both/and synthesis of the two, the Absolute Primacy of Christ, focusing on the importance of the Incarnation of Jesus as true God and true man. In doing so, he strikes a quintessentially Catholic balance between these perennial extremes. In fact, he taught that the entirety of God’s plan to create our universe revolved around His desire to be incarnated in the human family, which then put a special spotlight on Mary, His mother, and thus formed the basis for Scotus’ theological defense of her Immaculate Conception. The Protestants and Humanists could not refute the pesky Franciscan so they resorted to name calling.

Did you catch some of the connections to our order here, Bl. John Duns Scotus, the Franciscan theologian who successfully defended the Immaculate Conception? Just in case you were wonder why we Franciscans of the Immaculate are making such a big fuss about him. So, yes, please pray that we FI’s can be good “dunces” today for Jesus and Mary!

Stephen Beale at Catholic Exchange writes a great summary of four important things to know about Scotus’ teachings:

1. The Immaculate Conception. His enduring theological defense of the Immaculate Conception based on his teaching of the Absolute Primacy of Christ.
2. The Necessity of the Incarnation. Again, his doctrine of the Absolute Primacy of Christ, that Jesus would have come even if Adam had not sinned.
3. Divine Being as Infinity. That infinity is the primary attribute of God and how he gives many beautiful insights to the significance of this.
4. Will and intellect. That loving God is more important than knowing Him (although both are necessary).

via Catholic Exchange  Four Things You Need to Know about John Duns Scotus:

Every faithful Catholic—if they don’t already—should get to know John Duns Scotus, the 13th [Century] Franciscan whose brilliant flights to the heights of speculative theology earned him the nickname the “Subtle Doctor.”

John Duns Scotus, whose feast day is Saturday, may have earned a permanent place in the pantheon of Catholic theologians if for no other reason than the mark he left on Marian dogma, but his reflections on the nature of divine being and the necessity of the Incarnation—that’s with or without original sin—compel our curiosity. Here are four reasons it’s worth getting to know Scotus.

1. The Immaculate Conception. Perhaps his lasting contribution to the faith and devotion of the Church is in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. To be sure the Church had long believed that Mary had lived a sinless life. (St. Augustine famously declared that “When sin is treated, there can be no inclusion of Mary in the discussion.”) But the question of original sin was a thornier one. Many of the greatest saints of the Church—like St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Thomas Aquinas—found themselves caught between a theological rock and a hard place. While wanting to affirm her exceptional purity as Mother of God they also did not want to exempt anyone from the need for salvation through Christ.

More at Four Things You Need to Know about John Duns Scotus.

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Homily #141108b ( 13min) Play – Fr. Alan on the life of Bl. John Duns Scotus and how he he gave a lofty, subtle penetration of the divine nature and the centrality of Christ’s Incarnation as the very reason for God’s gratuitous act of love in in creating the universe. This maximized Christo-centrism, in turn, provided the theological basis for the Immaculate Conception of Mary, leading to its proclamation as a dogma of the Church in 1854. For more on the Primacy of Christ go here, and read this:

Ave Maria!
Mass: Bl. John Duns Scotus – Feast – Form: OF
Readings: Saturday in the 31st Week in Ordinary Time
1st: phi 4:10-19
Resp: psa 112:1-2, 5-6, 8, 9
Gsp: luk 16:9-15

Audio (MP3)

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