Text from the Plaque
In the 1920s, Professor Étienne Gilson, a noted French mediaevalist, and Henry Carr, C.S.B., of St. Michael's College, conceived a unique plan for a graduate centre for mediaeval studies. When it was founded in 1929, the Institute of Mediaeval Studies was the only specialized institution in its field. In 1939, as war threatened European centres of learning and cultural heritage, Pope Pius XII granted the Institute a papal charter. The Pontifical Institute's initial emphasis on mediaeval philosophy, especially the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, soon broadened into an historical approach that draws upon a wide range of academic disciplines. The Institute in known internationally for its research, teaching, library, and scholarly publications.
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