Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Also known as
·Angelic Doctor
·Doctor Angelicus
·Doctor Communis
·Great Synthesizer
·The Dumb Ox
·The Universal Teacher
·The fat one

Memorial
·28 January

Profile

Our Saint for today was born to Lombardy royalty, the son of the Count of Aquino. He was sent to the best schools of his day at Monte Cassino monastery and at the University of Naples.

Without his family knowing, Tom secretly joined the Dominican friars. His family hit the ceiling and had him kidnapped and imprisoned for a year to keep him out of sight, and deprogram him, from the wild ideas the monks put into his head: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself….radicals. Thankfully they failed to sway him, the Holy Spirit had plans;….Thy Will Be done….he rejoined his order in 1245.

The Dominicans saw the inherent intellectual gifts Tom possessed and sent him to the University of Paris to learn at the feet of the intellectual giant of the day, Saint Albertus Magnus. Thomas had a very powerful memory, it was almost superhuman.

Thomas stayed on at the University to teach. He wrote lots of stuff including commentaries on Aristotle. His study of Aristotle versus Plato has lead the Latin Church to a more “process oriented” type of sacramental theology; how does the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ? Versus the, more mystical Eastern Church which focuses more on Plato, and how the Sacrifice on Earth is reflected in Heaven; the work of the Priest is connected to the work of the high priest Christ‘s Eucharistic table. Doing versus being; both very valid sacramental theologies that tend to complement each other…but we don’t wear those dopey hats.

Tom’s teaching was in demand all over Europe especially in France and all over Italy; eventually he went back to Naples to teach. It was where he began working on his magnum opus; the Summa Theologica, a summary of Christian belief, which is quite a read if you have the cerebrum for it. Let’s face it; most of our understanding of the Faith today comes from Thomas’s theology. The five volume set: Latin/English…with notes, has been on my Amazon wish list for at least 12 years…still waiting……

Thomas was immensely fat. After reading and writing, eating was his best endeavor. He had a semicircular indentation cut out of the dinner table so his immense belly could fit into it.

He was constantly lost in thought, like an absent minded professor…he would often sit quietly then expostulate some profound end to a thought process like, “That will silence those Monophosytes!” Startling everyone around him.

On 6 December 1273 he experienced a divine revelation which so enraptured him that he abandoned the Summa Theologica, saying that it and his other writing were so much straw in the wind compared to the reality of the divine glory. He died four months later while giving a talk on the Song of Songs; overweight and with his health broken by overwork. The Summa was finished by his secretary….

No one except perhaps Saint Augustine of Hippo has had more of an influence on church teachings. Tom’s work systematized her great thoughts and teaching, and combined Classic philosophy and scholarship methods with the truth of Christianity. Pope Leo VIII commanded that his teachings be studied by all theology students. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1567. During the Council of Trent, the Summa Theologica of Thomas was placed on the altar in a place of honor during the proceedings, right next to the Bible.

Thomas’ relics are in Toulouse France.

Born
·c.1225 at, Naples, Italy

Died
·7 March 1274 near Rome of apparent natural causes he was enormous…his heart probably gave out

Patronage
·academics
·against storms
·against lightning
·apologists
·book sellers
·Catholic academies
·Catholic schools
·Catholic universities
·chastity
·colleges
·learning
·pencil makers
·philosophers
·publishers
·scholars
·schools
·students
·theologians
·universities

Representation
·chalice
·monstrance
·ox
·star
·sun
·teacher with pagan philosophers at his feet
.teaching