The ecclesial renewal promoted by the Second Vatican Council would not have been possible without the intrepid labors of Catholic theologians, philosophers, and pastors in the decades preceding the Council. Among these Catholic visionaries, the French Catholic philosopher Maurice Blonde! (1861-1949) rnerits special recognition. He had a decisive impact on ressourcement theologians who helped to draft the conciliar documents. Blondel\u27s influence is especially evident in their critique of conceptual rationalism that marked the pre-conciliar scholastic manuals, in the articulation of a richer understanding of the Church\u27s tradition, and in the Council\u27s teaching of a unitary human destiny. Blondel\u27s thought contributed to the overcoming of a one-sided siege mentality with which the Church had responded to modern developments. Though Blondel was long suspect among certain scholastics, the Council implicitly vindicated key aspects of his \u27\u27philosophy of action. Blonde! is appropriately called the philosopher of Vatican 11
