Brother Francis has a tremendous appreciation for the history of the Church. He likes to call Church history “the laboratory of wisdom.” Why? Because the history of the Church is the history of human salvation, and choosing the best means to save one’s soul is the highest prudence. And prudence, says St. Thomas Aquinas, is wisdom in action. History is the laboratory of wisdom, but the application today of the lessons learned from history is prudence. How, for example, are we to understa...| Catholicism.org