feast day: January 28
patron of: Catholic universities, colleges, and schools
about:
- born: 28 January 1225 (Roccasecca, Kingdom of Sicily)
- died: 7 March 1274 (Fossa Nuova, Papal States)
- also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino- was an Italian Dominican friar and Catholic priest and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the "Doctor Angelicus" and "Doctor Communis". "Aquinas" is from the county of Aquino, an area where his family held land until 1137. He was born in Roccasecca, Italy.
- attributes: The Summa theologiae, a model church, the sun on the chest of a Dominican friar
- notable works:
- Summa Theologica
- Summa contra Gentiles
- subject: Metaphysics, Logic, Theology, Mind, Epistemology, Ethics, Politics
- He was the son of Landulph, Count of Aquino, who, when St. Thomas was five years old, placed him under the care of the Benedictines of Monte Casino. His teachers were surprised at the progress he made, for he surpassed all his fellow pupils in learning as well as in the practice of virtue.
When he became of age to choose his state of life, St. Thomas renounced the things of this world and resolved to enter the Order of St. Dominic in spite of the opposition of his family. In 1243, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Dominicans of Naples. Some members of his family resorted to all manner of means over a two year period to break his constancy. They even went so far as to send an impure woman to tempt him. But all their efforts were in vain and St. Thomas persevered in his vocation. As a reward for his fidelity, God conferred upon him the gift of perfect chastity, which has merited for him the title of the "Angelic Doctor".
After making his profession at Naples, he studied at Cologne under the celebrated St. Albert the Great. Here he was nicknamed the "dumb ox" because of his silent ways and huge size, but he was really a brilliant student. At the age of twenty-two, he was appointed to teach in the same city. At the same time, he also began to publish his first works. After four years he was sent to Paris. The saint was then a priest. At the age of thirty-one, he received his doctorate.
At Paris he was honored with the friendship of the King, St. Louis, with whom he frequently dined. In 1261, Urban IV called him to Rome where he was appointed to teach, but he positively declined to accept any ecclesiastical dignity. St. Thomas not only wrote (his writings filled twenty hefty tomes characterized by brilliance of thought and lucidity of language), but he preached often and with greatest fruit. Clement IV offered him the archbishopric of Naples which he also refused. He left the great monument of his learning, the "Summa Theologica", unfinished, for on his way to the second Council of Lyons, ordered there by Gregory X, he fell sick and died at the Cistercian monastery of Fossa Nuova in 1274.
St. Thomas was one of the greatest and most influential theologians of all time. He was canonized in 1323 and declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V.
quote:
“Hence
we must say that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs
divine help, that the intellect may be moved by God to its act. But he
does not need a new light added to his natural light, in order to know
the truth in all things, but only in some that surpasses his natural
knowledge” (Summa Theologiae, I-II, 109, 1).
"The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross." ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas
SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST: THREEFOLD SIGNIFICANCE
taken from: L'Osservatore Romano (the newspaper of the Holy See), Weekly Edition in English, 30 March 2005, page 10
This is what an interpretation of the whole of salvation history considers the most splendid of Thomas' affirmations: "A sacrament is a sign that is both a reminder of the past, that is, the Passion of Christ; and an indication of that which is effected in us by Christ's Passion, that is, grace; and a prognostic (precognosticum), that is, a foretelling (praenuntiativum) of future glory" (Summa, III, 60, 3, c.).
What Thomas says here of every sacrament he was to say, indeed to sing, for the Eucharist: "This sacrament has a threefold significance: one with regard to the past, inasmuch as it is commemorative of our Lord's Passion, which was a true sacrifice, as stated above, and in this respect it is called a Sacrifice.
"With regard to the present it has another meaning, namely, that of ecclesiastical unity, in which men are aggregated through this sacrament; and in this respect it is called Communion....
"With regard to the future it has a third meaning, inasmuch as this sacrament foreshadows the Divine fruition which shall come to pass in heaven; and according to this it is called Viaticum, because it supplies the way of winning thither" (Summa, III, 73, 4, c.).
We find the Christian event fully present in the Eucharist, which is also the perfect initiation to it. The fact that in the treatment of the sacraments the Holy Eucharist follows Baptism and Confirmation does not prevent it from being "the sacrament" par excellence, the "summit" or "completion of the sacraments" and the one to which all the other sacraments relate.
The Eucharist is, as it were, "the consummation of the spiritual life, and the end of all the sacraments" (Summa, III, 73, 3, c.).
The reason for this, St Thomas explains, lies in the fact that whereas the energy — "vis" or "virtus" — of the Passion of Christ is active in the other sacraments, the Eucharist contains "Christ's own Body" (Summa, III, 73, 1, 3m); in Scholastic language, Christ is present as "the common spiritual good of the whole Church... contained substantially in the sacrament itself of the Eucharist" (Summa, III, 65, 3, 1), in order to bring man to full communion with Christ in the Passion (cf. Summa, III, 73, 2, 3m).
links/ sources:
- "Thomas Aquinas" (source: Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
- "St. Thomas Aquinas" (source: Catholic Encyclopedia):
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm
- "St. Thomas Aquinas" (source: Catholic Online):
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2530
- "St. Thomas Aquinas" (source: American Catholic):
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1274
- "The Spirituality of St. Thomas Aquinas" (source: Catholic Education Resource Center):
http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-spirituality-of-st-thomas-aquinas.html
- "The Holy Eucharist in St. Thomas Aquinas" (source:EWTN):
http://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology/HETHOSAQ.HTM
