Cornelio Fabro

Cornelio Fabro CSS (1911–1995) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Stigmatine Order and a scholastic Thomist philosopher. He was the founder of the Institute for Higher Studies on Unbelief, Religion and Cultures.

Known for his prodigious philosophical production, Fabro was part of the scholastic revival of Thomism. One of his major contributions to twentieth-century philosophy was to draw attention to the notion of "participation" in Aquinas' metaphysics.

Fabro was also interested in modern philosophy, particularly the relationship Kierkegaard's thought to Christian philosophy, the origins and nature of anthropocentrism in modern thought, and the critical analysis of "progressive" theology.

Fabro was born at Flumignano, Udine, in Northern Italy on August 24, 1911, to Angelo and Anna Zanello. He was the third of four children including two older brothers Antonio and Secondo, and a younger sister Alma Teresina.

Until his fifth year, he suffered from a motor disease that prevented him from speaking though he was able to communicate via signs. He also suffered from anorexia and cried continuously. A local Capuchin Fr. Guardiano suggested visiting the "Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie" in Udine, after which he was cured.

During the World War he contracted typhus but was cured by a military medical doctor . In the summer of 1915 he was operated on for Mastoiditis at the hospital of Udine where he remained till spring 1916. Consequently, his early schooling was received at the hands of his older brother.

In 1922 he transferred to the "Scuola Apostolica Bertoni" of the The Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata better known as the Stigmatines, continued his schooling in grammar schools of the Order and graduated from «Scipione Maffei» Hunior High school.

On November 1, 1927 he entered the novitiate of the Stigmatines in Verona.

In 1928 Fabro completed his pre-seminary studies and began studies of philosophy at the "Scuola Apostolica". After completing private studies at the Marian sanctuary at Ortonovo La Spezia in 1929 he transferred to the Curia Generalizia and International College of the Stigmatine Order at the convent of Sant'Agata dei Goti on via Mazzarino in Rome in order to begin his philosophy studies at the "Collegio Sant’Apolinare", the future Lateran University. In 1931 he graduated with the highest marks with his thesis entitled L’oggettività del principio di causa e la critica di D. Hume (The Objectivity of the Principle of Causality and Criticism of D. Hume). After completing his Licentiate in philosophy in 1931 Fabro began studying for a Licentiate in theology at the Pontifical International Institute Angelicum, the forerunner of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum On December 20, 1934 he received a prize from the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas for his monograph entitled Il principio di causalità, origine psicologica, formulazione filosofica, valore necessario ed universale (The Principle of Causality, its Psychological Origin, Philosophical Formulazation, and Necessary and Universal Value).

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