A copy of The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods by A. G. Sertillanges, O. P. (Catholic University of America Press, 1987) is an ideal gift for someone beginning graduate studies. It is worth reading cover to cover – and more than once – but even opening it at random will  give the reader something worth mulling over. As evidence, the  fruit of a few entirely random openings right now:

From page 135:

The more precious an idea is, the less it matters where it comes from. Train yourself to indifference about sources. Truth alone has a claim, and it has that claim wherever it appears. As we must  not swear allegiance to anyone, so still less must we disdain anyone; and if it is not expedient to believe everybody neither must we refuse to believe anyone who can show his credentials.

From page 63:

But carried too far, silence in its turn has a disturbing effect; when all a man’s powers are intensely concentrated on his thinking, he easily loses his balance, his vision of the way; a diversion is indispensable to the life of the brain; we need the soothing effect  of action.

From page 150:

Choose your  books. Do not  trust interested advertising and catchy titles. Have devoted and expert advisors. Go straight to the fountainhead to satisfy your thirst. Associate only with first-rate thinkers. What is not always possible in personal relations is easy, and we must take advantage of it, in our reading. Admire wholeheartedly what deserves it, but do not lavish your admiration. Turn away from badly written books, which are probably poor in thought also.

You may have noticed that we are now incorporating a section titled “Beyond NovAntiqua” in the sidebar of this site. In this section, you’ll find links to non-NovAntiqua titles that we think (based, in part, on the search terms that bring people to this site) our readers would appreciate.

The space in the sidebar being limited, though, we wanted to provide a bit more of an introduction to the titles we have listed right now.

One-Volume Latin Summa Theologiae – A number of people have ended up at this site having done a search not for NovAntiqua‘s Volume One of a Latin-English edition of the Summa (let alone the newly-released Volume Four), but for a one-volume Latin edition of the Summa. The only one-volume Latin Summa that we are aware of is this one, published by San Paolo Edizioni (1999). It is the Latin of the Leonine edition, with critical apparatus. It’s a hefty book, but smaller than many editions of Shakespeare’s complete works or most unabridged dictionaries. You won’t find it on Amazon.com or in any American bookstore, but after some digging, we were able to find it being sold by Amazon.it and Deastore via AbeBooks.com – probably your best bet short of going to Italy yourself.

If you do find yourself in Rome and want to pick up a copy, stop in the Libreria Internazionale San Paolo (right up the street from St. Peter’s). Assuming things haven’t changed much in the last few years, it’ll be on the second floor of the bookstore along with other works of Aquinas in Latin – right next to the section of books in French. If they’re out of stock, try Ancora (also on Via della Conciliazione) or Libreria Leonina. Buy your copy, go to Mass at St. Peter’s, and then celebrate with a 2-euro cone of gelato from Old Bridge – crema, cioccolata, and nutella, with panna – have one for me, please. Thank you.

A Lexicon of Saint Thomas Aquinas, byRoy J. Defarrari – This 1,200-page tome contains every Latin word found in the Summa Theologiae, as well as terms found in other works of Aquinas. In the words of the author’s foreword: “Each word as it appears will be followed by the different English meanings with which it is used, followed in turn by some illustrations of its use in each meaning taken from the works of Saint Thomas.” A goldmine for those interested in acquainting themselves with the Latin of St. Thomas.

We are also featuring Jean-Pierre Torrell’s incomparable two-volume introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas: Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Person And His Work and Saint Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master. These are not light reading, but if you want to have a better understanding of the man behind the works, these are the books to go to.

Anyone spending time with the works of Thomas Aquinas will soon be struck by the number of scripture references scattered throughout his text. With that in mind, we thought that it would make sense to locate a Latin-English Bible for readers of our Latin-English Summa. We are pleased to say that we found the ideal scriptural companion for our Summa Theologiae: Baronius Press’s Douay-Rheims and Clementina Vulgata: English-Latin Bible. The authorization of the Clementina Vulgata postdates Thomas Aquinas by roughly three centuries, but as we don’t have access to the actual Latin manuscripts of Scripture that St. Thomas studied, this will have to do. (The Douay-Rheims and the Clementine Vulgate are, however, the English and Latin texts referred to in the text and footnotes of the English translation contained in our edition of the Summa.)

Those interested in Latin-English resources and Gregorian Chant might find Fr. Samuel Weber, O.S.B.’s new Office of Compline worth a look. Chant settings for the night prayers from the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours (novus ordo) are arranged with Latin and English settings on facing pages. The book contains complete instructions for praying Compline, as well as a foreword by Cardinal Burke.

Keep an eye on the sidebar; I’m sure we’ll be adding titles from time to time. If you know of a title worth recommending to students of St. Thomas or readers of NovAntiqua in general, let us know in a comment or drop us an e-mail (mail[at]novantiqua.com), and we’ll check it out.

Also note that if you do decide to purchase any of these titles through the links provided here at NovAntiqua.com, we do receive part of the proceeds from the sales. Thank you!