La doctrina teológica y los doctos en la Colección Hibernense

Abstract

49

The «Canones Hibernenses», of the 8th century, ls one of the rare canonical collections which dedicates a complete book -of 19 chapters- to those Christians who fulfill a magisterial activity in the Church. The authors of the Collection contemplate the figure of the Doctor, who continues the catechetical function of the ancient Didascalos in the heart of the Christian community, from the point of view of the Ailgustinian ideal; that is to say, an ideal which defends the role of study and of culture -both religious and profane- as being necessary elements for gaining a deeper knowledge and development of the faith. On the other hand, the collection bears witness to a particular period and historical situation in which the Church asks the cultured Christians, through the .voice of those responsible for their discipline and government, to exercise self-control and prudent discretion in their studious investigation of the deposit of faith and in their task of teaching the Christian faithful. Ireland ls thus shown to be, not only the Island of Saints; lt isalso a paradlse for the learned, whose formative role with regard to the rest of the faithful, is left to a large extent to their own prudent judgement, on account of the actual state of affairs and the requirements of an ecclesiastical-religious sociology.