At a young age he showed that aptitude in Latin that made his papal writings in later years models of the purest classical style. One of Pope Leo XIII's chief concerns was the restoration of the intellectual life of the church. In his encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879) he recommended the philosophy of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), as the system best suited to serve the needs of the Church, from which a remarkable revival of philosophical and theological studies ensued. In Providentissimus Deus (1893) he gave direction to the science of Holy Scripture, while defending its inerrancy and authority.