Chinese Catholic priest and Thomistic philosopher
Reverend
Matthias Lu
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Born
| (
1919-06-02
)
June 2, 1919
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Died
| June 25, 2008
(2008-06-25)
(aged 89)
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Burial place
| Mont La Salle, Napa, CA
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Matthias Lu
(
Chinese
:
呂穆迪
; June 2, 1919 ? June 25, 2008) was a
Roman Catholic priest
and
Thomist
philosopher. He served as
vicar
to East Asian Catholics for the
Diocese of Oakland
from 1969 to 1986.
Biography
[
edit
]
Lu was born in
Baoding
, in
Hebei
province, China, to Paul and Rose Lu. He was ordained a priest in 1942 and left China in 1946 to study at the
Pontificia Universita Urbaniana
, where he received a
Licentiate
and, later, a Ph.D.
[1]
In the 1950s, Lu emigrated to North America and lectured at a number of institutions, including the
University of Notre Dame
,
St. Bonaventure University
,
University of Ottawa
, and
Saint John's University
(Minnesota). His longest-running association was with
Saint Mary's College of California
, a university under the direction of the
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
. He served as professor, researcher, chaplain, and director of the International Saint Thomas Aquinas Center. In 1988, he was named an affiliated member (AFSC) of the Christian Brothers. Lu also ministered to the
San Francisco Bay Area
's East Asian community through the radio station
KUSF
.
[2]
Pope Pius XII
conferred upon him the
Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice
award in 1939, and
Pope John Paul II
awarded him with a
Benemerenti Medal
in 1985.
[
citation needed
]
Translator and Author
[
edit
]
Lu translated numerous works by the
Apostolic Fathers
,
Aristotle
, and
Thomas Aquinas
into Chinese.
[3]
Lu expressed his own
Realist
anthropology in the Latin work
A Critical Theoretical Inquiry on the Notion of Act in the Metaphysics of Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas
(1992).
[4]
Lu's pamphlet
Bishop Fan
(1992) was written about the lack of religious freedom under the
Chinese Communist Party
. It is partially a biography of
Peter Joseph Fan Xueyan
, bishop of Baoding from 1951, as well as an indictment of the
Catholic Patriotic Association
.
[5]
Select Essays
[
edit
]
Select Addresses
[
edit
]
- "Martyrdom For Truth and Liberty in the People's Republic of China (1949-1996)," The 5th World Congress of Christian Philosophy, Lublin, 1996.
- "Human Family and Human Children for a Human World," World Forum of NGOs, Malta, 1993.
[6]
- "Doctores Tres, Unus in Amore" Congressus Internationalis De Beato Joanne Duns Scoto, Rome, 1993.
- "Saint Thomas Aquinas in China," The 8th International Congress of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, 1987.
- "The Common Man of Today Needs Saint Thomas Aquinas as a Whole Person," Convention on the 100th Anniversary of Leo XIII's
Aeterni Patris
at the Angelicum University, Rome, 1979.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Emille Karrick, "Priest Strives to Protect Religious Freedom,"
The Contra Costa Sun
, 6/3/98
- ^
"Former SMC Professor and Affiliated Member of the Christian Brothers Dies"
.
Saint Mary's College
. November 4, 2008
. Retrieved
December 20,
2022
.
- ^
Personalities of America
, American Biographical Institute, Raleigh, 1992
- ^
Lu, Matthias (1992).
A Critical Theoretical Inquiry on the Notion of Act in the Metaphysics of Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas
. Peter Lang.
ISBN
082041171X
.
- ^
Lu, Matthias (1992).
Bishop Fan
. Moraga: St. Thomas Aquinas Center.
- ^
Subsequently published in "Catholic International", Assumption Communications, vol.5, no.2.