Today we are remembering an extraordinary Franciscan figure in the history of the Order, and his name is Blessed John Duns Scotus. He is thus named because he was born in Duns, Scotland, and he entered the Franciscan Order, very likely at a young age. He was ordained a priest around 1291. He was born in 1266 and lived until 1308. He studied and later taught at Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris—three of Europe’s leading universities.
He is known as the Doctor Subtilis—the Subtle Doctor—for his precision and depth of reasoning, which truly stand out when you read his writings. He emphasizes the primacy of Christ and teaches that the Incarnation was not primarily a response to sin, as our Dominican brothers in the line of Saint Thomas Aquinas teach, but that the central act of God’s love from all eternity was itself the reason for the Incarnation—that even if Adam had not sinned, Christ would still have come to bring creation to its perfection in love.
One of the greatest accomplishments for which Blessed John Duns Scotus is remembered is his defense of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary—long before it was defined as dogma in 1854. His famous reasoning, potuit, decuit, ergo fecit—“God could do it; it was fitting that He do it; therefore, He did it”—became the classic formula for the Marian doctrine of her conception in spotlessness: her being saved from the taint of sin from the very first moment of her existence and throughout her life, as the chosen and created Mother of God.
Saint John Duns Scotus later died in Cologne, Germany, in 1308 at about the age of forty-three. His tomb bears the inscription: “Scotland gave me birth; England received me; France taught me; Cologne holds me.” He was later beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1993.
The first reading for his feast, from the Book of Wisdom, captures his spirit well—knowledge that is humble, reverent, and rooted in prayer. For Saint John, theology was not merely something to be learned; it was sacra doctrina—a way of contemplating God’s beauty and love. We hear in the Book of Wisdom: “May God grant that I speak suitably.” This could well have been Scotus’s own prayer before every lecture he gave.
In the Gospel, we are called to be light for the world—not by domination, but by integrity and love. Duns Scotus embodied this perfectly by uniting a keen intellect with a Franciscan heart. His theological brilliance was never separated from holiness of life. His thought illuminated faith; it did not replace it. He showed that reason and revelation work together in harmony.
Saint Francis always reminded his friars: theology, yes—but do not forget the spirit of prayer and devotion. Saint John Duns Scotus took these words to heart, always placing prayer and devotion to Christ first, from which his theology would naturally flow.
Scotus reminds us that intellectual pursuit in the Franciscan tradition is not arrogance but adoration. Knowledge, for him, is a form of love—the mind’s way of gazing upon God’s beauty. As Franciscans, we are called not only to do good works but also to think beautifully about God.
How often have we sat at the base of a mountain, or by a quiet lake with distant islands, watching the sun set in all its brilliance—and thought: “If this is beautiful, how much more is the beauty of the One who brought it all into existence?” This must have been the kind of reflection that captured the heart and imagination of John Duns Scotus.
Let us ask him to intercede for us, that we too may discover the value of contemplation, precision in our doctrine, and patience in thought. In a time of polarization, he reminds us that truth and charity are inseparable. When we present the truth, how do we present it? Are we bulldozers who crush everything in our path—even those struggling to understand the things of God? Or do we gently accompany them—with a smile, with patience, with love, with gentle counsel? It makes all the difference.
Truth and charity are inseparable. And in an age of self-promotion, the hidden and humble life of Saint John Duns Scotus invites us to intellectual humility—to be salt and light not for ourselves, but for the glory of God.
Through the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother Mary, and through the central mystery of Christ’s Incarnation in salvation history, may you be blessed through the intercession of Duns Scotus, the faithful warrior of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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