SAINT FEAST DAY 8 NOVEMBER: BL. JOHN DUNS SCOTUS

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN NOVEMBER 

Saints celebrated on the 8th of November

WELCOME!

BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS, PRIEST

Blessed John Duns Scotus was born between December 23, 1265, and March 17, 1266 in a small town called Duns, in southern Scotland. His father’s name was Ninian Duns. His family education was among the finest. A rather extraordinary episode of his life is related in an ancient text: in his childhood Blessed John was distressed over his dullness of mind. Yet he loved to study, and he wanted to apply himself to carefully studying the truths of the faith.

HE MADE AN APPEAL TO THE MOTHER OF GOD

With simplicity and confidence the boy made an appeal to the Mother of all graces and beseeched her to be willing to open his mind; it was soon done! Our Lady, appearing to him, told him:

“O my little devout one, the prayers and tears you have offered me have pleased me very much. You have persuaded my indulgent Heart to pity your plight and console your tears. And here I am next to you, who are so afflicted, to grant you all good things according to your desires. I will cure therefore the deficiency of your mind and help you with my Son’s riches. Not by any merit of yours, but by a heavenly gift…”

THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF THE IMMACULATE

From that day Blessed John did nothing but astonish his companions and his teachers with his learning ability, so much so that the celebrated Franciscan historian Wadding wrote of him, “During his adolescence Scotus was so brilliant in his study of letters that he surpassed the powers of man and the limits of nature, thus showing the particular gifts which he had received from God through the intercession of the Immaculate, who had appeared to him.”

HE ENTERED THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR

In 1278, after having entered the Order of Friars Minor at a very young age with the help of his uncle, Fr Elias Duns, he amazed everyone by the constant serenity of his face, the brilliance of his chaste eyes, his generosity in sacrifice, his diligence in work, his joy in privations, the ardour of his prayer: devotion to Our Lady produces all these things in a soul.

PRIESTLY ORDINATION

On March 17, 1291, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Olivier Sutton at the age of 25 years.

From 1291 to 1293 he studied in England at Oxford University. It would be needless to say to what extent he was able to edify his professors: he was wise but at the same time humble and recollected; he loved to converse fraternally with everyone, and he highly esteemed everyone and always smiled.

SINCERE OBEDIENCE TO THE SUPREME PONTIFF

The distinguishing characteristic of his life was his sincere obedience to the Supreme Pontiff, an obedience which was put to the test in 1303, when he was forced to abandon Paris, not being in agreement with the document with which the king of France, Philip the Fair, wanted to make an appeal against Pope Boniface VIII.

He reached his apotheosis at Paris in 1307 at the famous University “La Sorbonna”, where, in front of the entire academic body, he defended the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It is related that, prior to the debate, the Blessed, passing before a statue of stone of Our Lady, paused for a few moments, raised his eyes toward her and said to her in a feeble, imploring voice, “Allow me to praise you, O Holy Virgin; give me strength against your enemies.” The beloved Queen responded to this petition with a visible miraculous sign: the head of the statue moved, bowing toward the Blessed as if to say to him, “Yes, I will grant you complete strength.”

When the moment of the debate had arrived, Blessed John illustrated the truth of the Immaculate Conception with brilliant and subtle concepts. The professors and students were completely awestruck by such sublimity of discourse and thought. The whole body could not help but cry out in unison, “Scotus has won!”

"SCOTUS HAS WON!"

Toward the end of 1307 the Blessed was sent by his superiors to Cologne to illustrate and defend the Marian privilege against the heretic Beghards. Poor and humble as always, he departed without hesitation for the place that would be his last earthly abode. According to an ancient tradition he died in the midst of a debate, pronouncing his last words in defence of the Mother of God, worn out by fatigue and by penance, but a victorious knight of Christ in crushing the head of the demon.

Today his body is venerated in the historic Church of the Holy Cross, in the care of the Franciscans, at Cologne, Germany, where the Vicar of Christ, John Paul II, on November 15, 1980, paid homage at the tomb of the Blessed, calling him very expressively “a potent tower that stands out toward heaven as a witness of faith.” The same Pope beatified him on March 20, 1993.

PRAYER TO OBTAIN THE CANONISATION OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS

Most High, Almighty and gracious Lord, who exalt the humble and confound the proud of heart, grant us the great joy of seeing Blessed John Duns canonised. He honoured 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 infinitive love, hear, we beseech You, our humble prayer, through the merits of Your Only-Begotten Son and of His Mother, Coredemptrix and Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(1 Glory be)

Extracts from the leaflet “Quaderni di Studi Scotisti”, Seminarum Theologicum 'Immaculata Mediatrix'