“Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos, gigantium humeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvehimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantica.”1
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References
1.
“Bernard of Chartres said we are dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants, wither for see more and farther than they, not because we have keener vision or greater light, but because we are lifted up and born aloft on the gigantic statue.” “John of Sclisbury, Metalogicon, III, 4 (Patrologia Latina, CXCIX, Col. 900; McGarry, ed., p. 167)… For this dictum of Bernard of Chartres, one of the most frequently discussed loci in medieval literature, see KlibanskyR., ‘Standing on the Sholders of Giants’, Isis, XXVI, 1936, 147f., and Curtius, E., Europäsche Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter, Bern, 1948, p. 127. To what extent it may have suggested to articles the idea of representing the Apostles perched on the shoulders of the prophets is a moot question. The main argument in favor of this assumption — the fact that the motif in question occurs, in the north transept windows of the Cathedral, at Chartres itself before its appearance on the Bamberg ‘Fürstenportal’ and in the windows of the west choir of Naumburg Cathedral — is vitiated by two occurrences unquestionaly preceding the Chartres windows, viz., the baptismal font in Merseburg Cathedral (H. Beenken, Romanische Skulpyur in Deutschland, Leipzig, 1924, p. 86ff., Figs. 43,44) and, probably, a capital in the church of Payerne about halfway between Berne and Lausanne (J. Gantner, Kunstgeschichte der Schweiz, I, Frauenfeld, 1936, p. 226ff., Fig. 167). On the other hand, it remains true that, barring the very doubtful reconstruction of a mural in San Sebastiano al Palatino in Rome (J. Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten …., Freiburg, i. B., 1916, II, Figs. 513-515, IV, Plate 225, No. I), all the above-mentioned examples postdate not only the lifetime of Bernard of Chartres but also the date of John of Salisbury's Metalogicon (largely completed in 1159); and certain it is that, occasional statements to the coutrary notwithstanding, the motif is foreign to Byzantine art Thus an influence of Bernard's simile on the visual arts — conceivably through the intermediary of illustrated manuscripts — still remians within the realm of possibility. De Francovich, G., Benedetto Antelami, architetto e scultore, e l'arte del suo tempo, Milan and Florence, 1952, I, p. 194f., enumerates the examples of Apostles placed on the shoulders of prophets inconnection with prophets holding medallions that enclose the portraits of Apostles (Parma Baptistry) but does not discuss the problem posed by the apercu of Bernard of Chartres.” Panofsky, Erwin, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), P. 100. Actually, in Buddhist art there are representations where bodhisattvas are on the shoulders of the dhyanibuddhas. Most of the following notes are referring to concepts more than actual quotes.
2.
Encyclopedia Brittanica (CHicago: 1964), Vol. 15, p. 199.
3.
Paul VI: Humanae Vitae, 1968.
4.
In this essay “Man” is used in the classical generic sense, which includes both man and woman, as Homo Sapiens includes both vir and mulier (vir=male, mulier=female). Such usage allows for a smoother flow of the text, than the constant application of he-she, man-woman, his-her, etc.
5.
John XXIII: Mater et Magistra, 1961. “Man's dignity as a creature of God endowed with a soul in the image and likeness of God.”
6.
Gen I:27.
7.
Gaudium et Spes, 1965, Ch. I, 12 (Vatican II).
8.
Pius XI. Casti Connubi, 1930.
9.
AlparJ.J. and FechnerP.U., Fechner's Intraocular Lenses (New York: Thieme Inc., 1986).
10.
GinsbergStephen P. (ed.), Cataract and Lens Surgery (Birmingham: Aescalapius Publishing Co., 1982).
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LimArthur S. (ed.), A Colour Atlas of Posterior Chamber Implants (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1985).
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AbrahamsonTra A. (ed.), Cataract Surgery (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1986).
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BoyanerE.,(ed.), Proceedings of the National Ophthalmic Speakers Programme (Montreal: Medioepa, 1984).
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PercivalS.P.B., (ed.), A Colour Atlas of Lens Implantation (England: Wolfe Publishing Ltd., 1991).
15.
“The Culture of Love,”The Catholic World Report, October 1994, Vol. 4, No. 9, p. 44.
16.
LanderG.B., Ad Imaginem Dei: The Image of Man in Medieval Art, Wimmer Lecture 1962 (Latrobe, PA: The Archabbey Press), pp. 3, 77.
17.
Gaudium et Spes, 1965, Ch. I, 22.
18.
Lk 1:38.
19.
AlparJohn J., “Must Physicians Always Do What Their Patients Demand?” Correspondence Section, Ophthalmic Surgery, November 1991, VoL 22, No. 11, p. 696.
20.
This is a term coined by merging the names of Hillary and Bill Clinton.
21.
CataldoP.S., and MoraczenskyA.S. (eds.), The Fetal Tissue Issue: Medical and Ethical Aspects.The Pope John Center, 1994.
22.
AquinasSaint Thomas, VeritateDe, Q XIV, Art I.
23.
AquinasSaint Thomas, Summa Theologiae, I-II Q IX Art I, II-III Q I Art XII, para V.
24.
The Casa Balthasar Bulletin, Sept. 1994, No. 6, p. 4.
25.
StaffordArchbishop J. Francis, “The Vocation of Marriage in God's Plan,”The Catholic World Report, October 1994, p. 51.
26.
Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943.
27.
See Ex 23,27.
28.
Pius XII. Allocution to an International Congress of Anesthesiologists, November 24, 1957. Allocution conventui unionis Italicae inter obstertrices, October 29, 1951.
29.
Declaration on Euthanaisa, Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 1980.
30.
These questions are discussed in great detail in the following publications of the Pope John Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The New Technologies of Birth and Death, 1980; McCarthy, D. and Moraczensky, A.S. (eds.), Moral Responsibility in Prolonging Life, Decisions, 1981; McCarthy, D. and Bayer, E. (eds.), Handbook on Critical Life Issues, 1982.
31.
PuzoMario, The Godfather (A Signet Book 1978), pp. 45–47.
32.
PuzoMario, The Godfather (A Signet Book 1978), p. 407.
33.
AlparJohn J., “Progressive Iris Pigment Loss Following Cataract Operation, Part I,”Contact and Intra-Ocular Lens Medical Journal, October/December, 1978, Vol. 4:4, pp. 70–86.
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AlparJohn J., “Progressive Iris Pigment Loss Following Cataract Operation, Part II,”Contact and Intra-Ocular Lens Medical Journal, January/March, 1979, Vo. 5:1, pp 102–110.
35.
AlparJohn J., “Progressive Iris Pigment Loss Following Cataract Operation, Part III,” Contribution to Binkhorst-Nordlohne Barrier Deprivation Syndrome, Contact and Intra-Ocular Lens Medical Journal, April/June, 1979, VOL 5:2, pp. 83–91.
36.
AlparJohn J., “The Role of Indomethacin in the Prevention of Cystoid Macular Edema,” Transactions: Eighth Congress of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Bangkok, 1981, p. 747.
37.
MiyakeK., “Prevention of Cystoid Macular Edema after Lens Extraction by Topical Indomethacin. A Preliminary Report,” Albrecht V. Grade's Arch Klin Exp Ophthalmol, 1977, 203: 81–88.
38.
MiyakeK., “Prophylaxis of Aphakic Cystoid Macular Edema Using Topical Indomethacin,”Am Intra-Ocular Implant Journal, 1978, 4(4): 174.
39.
MiyakeK., “Prevention of Cystoid Macular Edema After Lens Extraction by Topical Indomethacin II: A Control Study in Bilateral Extractions,”Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology, 1978, 22: 80–94.
40.
MiyakeK., “Prostaglandins as a Causative Factor of the Cystoid Macular Edema After the Lens Extraction,”Mippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi, 1977, 81: 1449–1464.
AlparJohn J., “Cataract Extraction With and Without Intraocular Implantation in Diabetics: The Role of Topical Indomethacin,”Afro-Asian Journal of Ophthalmology, September, 1990, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 32–39.
