HARVEY NEDELLEC (HERVAEUS NATALIS)

Dominican theologian and philosopher, referred to as Doctor rarus; b. Brittany, c. 1250–60; d. Narbonne, c. Aug. 7, 1323. He entered the Order of Preachers in the diocese of Tréguier in 1276. Nothing further is known of him until 1301, when he is listed among those present at the Dominican provincial chapter at Rouen. He was at Saint-Jacques in 1303 and supported King Philip the Fair against Boniface VIII. It is probable that Harvey read the Sentences of Peter Lombard at Paris in 1301–02 or 1302–03. He became master of theology in 1307 and occupied one of the magistral chairs at Saint-Jacques until his election as provincial of France, Sept. 17, 1309. On June 10, 1318, he was elected master general of the order at the general chapter in Lyon. During his generalate Harvey worked extensively on behalf of the canonization of thomas aquinas. His efforts were crowned with success on July 18, 1323, but Harvey was not himself present. On his way from Barcelona to the ceremonies at Avignon he fell sick at the Dominican convent in Narbonne and died there.

Harvey's literary output was not inconsiderable, either in quantity or in breadth of interest. He wrote Quaestiones super sententias (Venice 1505; Paris 1647), Quaestiones disputatae (Venice 1513), and various Quodlibets. Although the Venice edition (1513) of his Quodlibets contains 11 of these disputes, only Quodlibets 1–4 appear to be authentic. His philosophical works include In 1 perihermeneias, Quaestiones de praedicamentis, De cognitione primi principii, and De secundis intentionibus (Paris 1489; Venice 1513). He was an almost indefatigable controversialist and polemicist. He was head of a commission appointed to examine the writings of durandus of saint-pourÇain, which found 91 objectionable propositions. He attacked james of metz in Correctorium fr. Jacobi and peter aureoli and directed a long series of treatises against henry of ghent.

Although Harvey had a wide acquaintance with the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and wrote a valuable Defensio doctrinae fr. Thomae, he sometimes adopted positions incompatible with the Thomistic metaphysics of being. In particular, he rejected Aquinas's position on the interrelationship between essence and existence (esse ) in creatures. Yet, though Harvey's philosophy may seem more eclectic than Thomistic, he considered himself an ardent follower of Aquinas. And, in this regard, it was the canonization of Thomas, in which Harvey played a major role, that assured the continued influence of Aquinas in the intellectual life of Christendom. (see thomism.)

Bibliography: É. h. gilson, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (New York 1955) 747–748. p. glorieux, La Littérature quodlibétique, v.1 (Kain 1925), v.2 (Paris 1935) 1:200–208; 2:138–139. b. harÉau, "Hervé Nédélec: Général des Frères Prêcheurs," Histoire littéraire de la France 34 (1915) 308–351. c. o. vollert, The Doctrine of Hervaeus Natalis on Primitive Justice and Original Sin (Analecta Gregoriana 42; 1947). e. allen, "Hervaeus Natalis: An Early 'Thomist' on the Notion of Being," Mediaeval Studies 22 (1960) 1–14. a. de guimarÃaes, "Hervé Noël (1323): Étude biographique," Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 8 (1938) 5–81. e. a. lowe, The Dominican Order and the Theological Authority of Thomas Aquinas in the Early Fourteenth Century: The Controversies between Hervaeus Natalis and Durandus of St. Pourcain (Ph.D. diss., Fordham University, 1999).

[e. b. allen]