SERVASANTO of FAENZA. Theologian and Franciscan preacher, born at Oriolo (Faenza) in the first half of the 13th century, died probably at Florence c. 1300. He entered the Order at Bologna, where he studied and was ordained priest between 1244 and 1260. He preached in various regions of Italy, but especially in Tuscany and Florence.
His principal works are: *Summa* or *Liber de exemplis naturalibus*, divided into three treatises on faith, the Sacraments and virtues and vices (unpublished, except for the prologue and the index of chapters); *Summa de paenitentia* (Louvain 1485 under the title *Antidotarium animae*), considered by the author himself as a supplement to the preceding work and intended exclusively for preachers; *Summa* or *Liber de virtutibus et vitiis* (unpublished, except for some extracts), probably composed at Florence (c. 1277–85) as an expansion, intended for preachers, of the third book of the *Summa de exemplis naturalibus*; a *Mariae* or *Liber de laudibus beatae Mariae* (unpublished), in which, following the *Mariale* of St Albert the Great, he applies to the Virgin all the good qualities of creation and the figures of the Old Testament. Several cycles of sermons are also attributed to him: *Sermones de proprio Sanctorum* (published among the works of St Bonaventure, III, Rome 1596, pp. 237–322); *Sermones de communibus Sanctorum* (ibid., pp. 323–406); *Sermones de festivitatibus B. M. V.* (cf. ibid., 387a and 391a). At the beginning of the 14th century Bono Giamboni made a collection of these sermons and translated them into Italian under the title *Della miseria dell'umana generazione* (in *Trattati morali*, Florence 1836). The works of S., considered the greatest moralist of the 13th century, are particularly valuable for their anecdotal genre.
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SERTILLANGES, Antonin-Gilbert. Philosopher, theologian and Dominican sacred orator, b. at Clermont-Ferrand on 17 Nov. 1863, d. at Sallanches (Haute-Savoie) on 26 July 1948.
He entered the Dominicans in 1883; promoted lector in theology (1890) he began teaching II. He was editorial secretary of the *Revue thomiste*; from 1900 to 1922 he taught moral philosophy at the Institut catholique and distinguished himself among the most celebrated orators of France. From 1918 he was a member of the Institute; after spending 1923 in Jerusalem, he taught (1924–28) social morality and eloquence to his confreres, refugees in Holland, and then to those of the Convent of Saulchoir. In 1940 he returned to the Paris convent, where he devoted himself to preaching and the publication of his final works until his death.
In addition to numerous articles in the *Revue de la jeunesse*, *Revue des jeunes*, and many other journals, the principal works to be noted are: a) philosophical: *Agnosticisme et anthropomorphisme* (Paris 1908); *St Thomas d'Aquin* (2 vols., ibid. 1910); *La philosophie morale de st Thomas* (ibid. 1916); *Les grandes thèses de la philosophie thomiste* (ibid. 1928); *Le christianisme et les philosophies* (2 vols., ibid. 1939, 1941; Ital. trans. Brescia 1948); *Lumières et périls du bergsonisme* (ibid. 1943); *L'idée de création et ses retentissements en philosophie* (ibid. 1945); b) theological: *Les sources de la croyance en Dieu* (ibid. 1903); *Catéchisme des incroyants* (ibid. 1930; Ital. trans. Turin 1937); *Dieu ou rien* (Paris 1933; Ital. trans. Turin 1940); *L'Eglise* (2 vols., Paris 1917); *Le miracle de l'Eglise* (ibid. 1933); *Qu'est-ce que le catholicisme?* (ibid. 1938); *Dieu gouverne* (ibid. 1942); c) ascetical-moral: *Jésus* (Paris 1903); *La prière* (ibid. 1917); *La vie intellectuelle* (ibid. 1921; Ital. trans. Rome 1925); *La vie catholique* (2 vols., Paris 1921; Ital. trans. Brescia 1938); *Notre vie* (2 vols., Paris 1926); *Recueillement* (ibid. 1935; Ital. trans. Brescia 1944); *Affinités* (Paris 1936; Ital. trans. Brescia 1944); *Devoirs* (Paris 1936; Ital. trans. Brescia 1945); d) oratorical: *La politique chrétienne* (Paris 1904); *Socialisme et christianisme* (ibid. 1905); *La famille et l'Etat dans l'éducation* (ibid. 1906); *Féminisme et christianisme* (ibid. 1908; Ital. trans. Turin 1940); *L'Amour chrétien* (Paris 1919; Ital. trans. Milan 1947); *Le Sermon sur la Montagne* (Paris 1916); *L'orateur chrétien* (ibid. 1930; Ital. trans. Turin 1928); e) aesthetic: *Un pèlerinage artistique à Florence* (Paris 1895; 1903; Liège 1931); *Art et apologétique* (Paris 1909); *La Cathédrale: sa mission spirituelle, son esthétique, son décor, sa vie* (Paris 1922); *Prière et musique* (ibid. 1936).
The fundamental idea of S. is that every science and every activity must be permeated by religion. While affirming that grace transcends nature and religion philosophy, he holds that «without Christianity there would be no acceptable philosophy»: all those [philosophies] understood after the Gospel, however useful if incorporated with it, would not in themselves have benefited our civilization» (*Le Christianisme et les philosophies*, I, preface). The Gospel «as an initial fact is foreign to every philosophy» (ibid., p. 8), yet Christian dogma «if it does not enunciate a philosophy, presupposes one».
In addition to expounding the philosophy of St Thomas, in its principal theses and problems, enriched with new contributions, S. intended through his theological-apologetic works to bring the evangelical message to all contemporary intelligences. He therefore rethought, with originality of content and form, the traditional solutions in the light of contemporary achievements. Beyond verbal and conceptual determinisms, he sought to translate the Truth, enriched for us by the contribution of the centuries, «in the ideological vocabulary and not merely in the verbal vocabulary used by the thinkers of our time». This attempt to adapt to the demands of modern mentality has sometimes seemed to some more rigidly traditional theologians not free from some shadow of theological relativism. In reality, S. had oriented his activity principally toward minds distant from the scholastic mentality.