According to the Bible, a saint is one who is
sanctified, consecrated, set apart as sacred. Early Christians were all
called saints. Over time, the term saint came to refer to a person who
was recognized as having attained a certain level of holiness. Bishops
and martyrs became the first kinds of saints to be venerated by the
early Christian church, and later the hermit type of saint became
recognized. Later still, the terms virgin and matron were used to
describe women saints, and other types of saints such as confessors,
abbots and abbesses, and priests were added.
René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in La Haye, France,
and died on February 11, 1650, in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite having an
out-of-wedlock daughter named Francine, who became the greatest sorrow
of his life when she died at the age of five, he lived an otherwise
single, secluded life, very close to the style of the traditional
hermit.
He was a brilliant mathematician, and a genius whose Discourse on
Method and Meditations on First Philosophy have changed the way we
think about ourselves and the world, yet he also advocated religious
tolerance and human rights. He honored women as equals, even dedicated
books not once, but twice to Protestant women, and all of this while
trying to gain favor with Jesuit priests. Most people misunderstand
Descartes and this behavior, but it is clear that he was not biased in
any way towards men or towards Catholics, even though he was both a man
and a Catholic.
He practiced medicine without charge, and healed both the wealthy and
famous, and the poor and obscure. He did not die an agonizing death as
a martyr, yet a martyr he was nonetheless in spreading truth and wisdom
in the service of Queen Christina of Sweden, and he may have been
fundamental to her later conversion to Catholicism.
The pious Catholic Claude Clerselier tried to turn Descartes into a
saint after his death, clearly feeling he was a saint, yet the Catholic
Church never honored or beatified him, and even put his books on the
"Index of prohibited books" (Index librorum prohibitorum). His
Cartesian philosophy too was condemned at the University of Utrecht,
bastion of Calvinist thought, and the university only lifted the ban
363 years later.
On November 28, 2007, the Cesidian Church beatified René
Descartes, and issued a "Saint René Descartes Declaration"
urging support for his canonization. In response, several persons from
various walks of life and different denominations, even an atheist,
have signed the petition in favor of Descartes' canonization, and
together with the bishop of the Cesidian Church, two bishops and one
archbishop have expressed their favor for Descartes' sainthood. Saint
René Descartes was consecrated the First Saint of the Cesidian
Church on December 13, 2007.
Saint René Descartes University is the university and seminary
school we have started in honor our First Saint, and in order to
continue his method and wisdom.
Saint René Descartes University is an accredited seminary
college of the Cesidian Church,
a member in good standing of the
Micronational Professional Registry
(MPR), and is accredited by the
Fifth World Accreditation
Agency (5WAA).
Most Rev Dr Cesidio Tallini, BS, BSc,
PhD hc
Bishop of Cesidian Church
Chancellor of Saint René Descartes University