Aloisio Galea
Aloisio Galea was a Maltese theologian and minor philosopher. He specialised mostly in moral philosophy.
Life
Galea was born in Valletta in 1851. He studied at the bishop’s seminary and at the University of Malta. He was ordained a priest in 1874. His main intellectual endeavour was to study, elaborate upon and teach Thomistic writings and doctrines, of which he was an expert. Specifically, he applied his studies to his pastoral work, particularly by focusing on Aquinas’ moral philosophy. Galea died in 1905.Works
Though Galea wrote profusely, most of his publications are of a religious and devotional nature which do are of no interest to philosophy. However, some writings stand out for their philosophical acumen, amongst which are the following.- 1879 – Dichiarazione delle Prime Ventisei Questioni della Summa Theologica. This book is as yet lost or misplaced. Pace states that he reproduces ‘word for word’ Aquinas’ Questions. What this means is not exactly clear. It is unlikely that the publication is a reproduction of a part of Aquinas’ Summa without any comment whatsoever.
- 1880 – De Fontibus Quorundam Opusculorum Sancti Thomæ Aquinatis. A 65-page book in Latin which discusses in six chapters some of the fundamental principles which Aquinas upholds in his writings. Pace deals successively with the difference between the word of God and the word of humans, sensibility in relation to individuality, the intellect in relation to universals, natural light and divine light, the subject of thinking and the object of thought, being's reason for existence, and the composite nature of natural elements.
- 1882 – Articles published in the Italian review Divus Thomas. Discuss works attributed to Aquinas which Pace considered to be spurious.
- 1885-1900 – Tractatus de Trinitate Summæ Theologicæ Sancti Thomæ Aquinatis. This work is still in manuscript form, and bears an additional title, namely: Aliarum septemdecim Quæstionum. It contains some 492 folios, and is divided in questions and articles as in the style of Scholasticism. The work rests heavily on Pope Leo XIII’s Æterni patris of 1879. It basically offers a philosophical discussion on the doctrine of the Trinity or, alternatively, on the nature of God.
- 1892 – Della Distinzione Numerica dei Peccati. A 50-page book in Italian published in Malta in which Pace reflects on the first half of the second part of Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. Though the theme of this book seems irrelevant today, in Pace's time it still carried considerable practical weight. In this work, while citing long extracts in Latin, Pace proposes varies philosophical arguments to support his views.
- 1894 – De Caritate sive De Dilectione Dei. A 76-page book in Italian published in Sicily divided into two main parts, each of which have an introduction and a conclusion. The parts are further divided into eight and six sections respectively. Pace mainly deals with the theological virtue of love both from a theological as well as a philosophical standpoint. Practically, Pace follows the procedure adopted by Aquinas. Of course, Aquinas is the main source of the composition.