Saint
Thomas Aquinas (also known as Doctor Angelicus; Doctor Communis;
Great Synthesizer; The Dumb Ox; The Universal Teacher) was born
around 1225 A.D. at Roccasecca, Aquino, Naples, Italy. He was the son
of the Count of Aquino, born in the family castle in Lombardy. He was
educated by Benedictine monks at Monte Cassino, and at the University
of Naples. He secretly joined the mendicant Dominican friars in 1244,
and when his family discovered he had done so, they kidnapped and
imprisoned him for a year to keep him out of sight, and to get him to
give up on the idea of the religious life, but he rejoined his order
in 1245.
He
studied in Paris from 1245 to 1248 under Saint Albert the Great, then
accompanied Albert to Cologne, Germany. Saint Thomas was ordained in
1250, and he then returned to Paris to teach and there he taught
theology at the University of Paris. He wrote defenses of the
mendicant orders, commentaries on Aristotle and Lombard's Sentences,
and some bible-related works, usually by dictating to secretaries. He
won his doctorate, and taught in several Italian cities. Then around
1269 he was recalled to Paris by King Saint Louis IX and the
University of Paris. Around 1272, Thomas was recalled to Naples where
he was appointed regent of studies while working on the Summa
Theologica.
On
December 6, 1273 he experienced a divine revelation which so
enraptured him that he abandoned the Summa, saying that it and his
other writings were so much straw in the wind compared to the reality
of the divine glory. He died four months later while en route to the
Council of Lyons, overweight and with his health broken by overwork.
Saint
Thomas Aquinas' works have been influential to the thinking of the
Church, as they systematized the great thoughts and teachings of the
Church, and combined Greek wisdom and scholarship methods with the
truth of Christianity. Pope Leo VIII commanded that his teachings be
studied by all theology students. He was proclaimed Doctor of the
Church in 1567 by Pope Saint Pius V.
Below
are some quotations from Saint Thomas Aquinas:
Grant
me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to
find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting
for you, and a hope of finally embracing you.
Charity
is the form, mover, mother and root of all the virtues.
We
are like children, who stand in need of masters to enlighten us and
direct us; and God has provided for this, by appointing his angels to
be our teachers and guides.
If
you seek the example of love: “Greater love than this no man has,
than to lay down his life for his friends.” Such a man was Christ
on the cross. And if he gave his life for us, then it should not be
difficult to bear whatever hardships arise for his sake. If you seek
patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Christ
endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because “when he
suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the
slaughter and he did not open his mouth.” If you seek an example of
obedience, follow him who became obedient to the Father even unto
death. “For just as by the disobedience of one man,” namely,
Adam, “many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many
were made righteous.” If you seek an example of despising earthly
things, follow him who is “the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Upon
the cross he was stripped, mocked, spat upon, struck, crowned with
thorns, and given only vinegar and gall to drink. Do not be attached,
therefore, to clothing and riches, because “they divided my
garments among themselves.” Nor to honors, for he experienced harsh
words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for “weaving a
crown of thorns they placed it on my head.” Nor to anything
delightful, for “in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
The
only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity,
assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.
