guage, and leaves real and concrete studies in entire neglect"?[1]
In history the Society must yield the palm to the Order of St. Benedict, particularly to the celebrated Congregation of St. Maur. Still, some Jesuits produced works of lasting value. We mention first the De Doctrina Temporum by Father Petavius († 1652), of which a great authority on chronology said that it was superior to the work of Scaliger, and an invaluable mine of information for later chronologists.[2] Father Labbe († 1667) began the Collection of the Councils which is much used up to the present day. A more complete Collection of the Councils, in fact the most complete that exists, was published by Father Hardouin († 1729). He wrote also a most valuable work on numismatics, in which six hundred ancient coins were, for the first time, described and with wonderful sagacity used for solving intricate historical problems. In other historical and critical works he proceeded with an almost incredible boldness and arbitrariness, denying the authenticity of a great number of the works of the classical writers and the Fathers of the Church. In many questions of criticism he was far in advance of his age, but some of his hyper-critical and eccentric hypotheses have, to a great extent, obscured his reputation.[3] The greatest historical work of the
- ↑ History of Pedagogy, p. 144.
- ↑ Ideler, Handbuch der Chronologie, vol. II, pp. 602-604. See Weiss, Weltgeschichte (2nd ed.), vol. V, II, pp.544-552.
- ↑ It is a rather curious fact that some have blamed the Jesuit Superiors for allowing the publication of several of Father Hardouin's works, curious I say, because it is said again and again that the severe censorship of the Order suppresses all original and independent works of its subjects. "Do what you may, we shall find fault with you," seems to be the principle guiding some critics of the Order.
