Aeterni Patris
| Aeterni Patris Latin : Of the Eternal Father Encyclical letter of Pope Leo XIII |
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| Date | 4 August 1879 |
| Argument | On the restoration of Christian Philosophy |
| Encyclical number | 3 of 85 of the pontificate |
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Aeterni Patris ([Of the] Eternal Father) was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in August 1879, (not to be confused with the apostolic letter of the same name written by Pope Pius IX in 1868 calling the First Vatican Council). It was subtitled "On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Catholic Schools in the Spirit (ad mentem) of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas". The aim of the encyclical was to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy.
In August 1879, eighteen months into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIII (formerly Joachim Cardinal Pecci, bishop of Perugia), issued the encyclical letter Aeterni Patris. The aim of the encyclical was to aid and advance the restoration of Christian philosophy, which he felt had fallen into danger and disrepute by adhering to modern trends in secular philosophy, by urging a return to the scholastic thinkers of the Middle Ages, most especially the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, and the related philosophical system of Thomism. The encyclical attempts to clarify the roles of faith and philosophy (later to be covered again in John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio (On Faith and Reason), showing how most beneficially each may profit from the other.
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