Doctor

Doctor (Lat. docēre, 'to teach'), a teacher. Originally the word doctor was used to signify a teacher in general, and it was not till the 12th century that it became the highest university title of honour for the learned. It had frequently appended to it in those early days some additional expression intended to characterise the peculiar gift of its possessor. Thus, Thomas Aquinas was called the Doctor Angelicus; Bonaventura, the Doctor Seraphicus; Alexander de Hales, the Doctor Irrefragabilis; Duns Scotus, the Doctor Subtilis; Roger Bacon, the Doctor Mirabilis; William Occam, the Doctor Invincibilis or Singularis; Joseph Gerson, the Doctor Christianissimus; Thomas Bradwardine, the Doctor Profundus; and the like. Formal promotions to the university degree of doctor legum commenced at Bologna about 1130, and the learned Irnerius, the regenerator of the Roman law at that period, is said to have introduced the ceremonial which was afterwards universally adopted. The university of Paris almost immediately followed in the footsteps of Bologna. In England the doctorate was not introduced till the following century. Originally the degree, which is more modern than those of bachelor and master, was granted only in law and divinity; in medicine it was not granted till the 14th century; in philosophy, science, literature, and music, only quite recently. The doctor's degree is granted either on examination, and after the ancient form, at least, of publicly defending a learned thesis in Latin has been observed, or else it is an honorary degree, conferred in consideration of the general reputation of the recipient for eminence in some particular branch of learning, philosophy, or science. The doctorate of laws (whether in the form of LL.D., Legum Doctor; D.C.L., Doctor of Civil Law; or J.U.D., Doctor Utriusque Juris, Doctor both of Civil and Canon Law) is especially wont to be conferred on eminent men honoris causa tantum; the D.D. is often distinguished rather as a pastor or public man than as a divine; the doctorates of medicine, science, and music are usually for ascertained professional attainment. In Germany, learned ladies have occasionally shared the honours of the doctorate; and now many universities give women doctors' degrees in medicine and science. It was a special honour to Cardinal Cullen that, before he was ordained priest, the pope conferred the doctor's hat on him with his own hand. See DEGREE, UNIVERSITY, WOMEN.