Today, is the 55th Anniversary of one of the greatest Theologians and Philosophers of the 20th Century, my model in the academic field, Pater Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
He was only the 'Sacred Monster of Thomism' if you were a heretic or suspect of heresy. To everyone else, he was a warm, gentle, pious, holy, and charitable Dominican, with a genius intellect, who kept a box, filled with gifts given to him by admirers, in which he would distribute to the poor of Rome, and who was affectionately loved by his students at the Angelicum. Despite a disagreement, Jacques Maritain still wrote of him later on, after Pater Garrigou passed away, "I pray to him now with the saints in heaven." You can visit Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange at the Dominican Mausoleum in the St. Lawrence Outside-the-Walls Basilica Cemetery.
I will be writing more extensively on Pater Garrigou in the near future. Until then enjoy this bio by Fr. Thomas Crean, O.P.
