Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known within the tradition as the Doctor Angelicus, the Doctor Communis, and the Doctor Universalis. The name Aquinas identifies his ancestral origins in the county of Aquino in present-day Lazio, Italy.
Thomas was most likely born in the castle of Roccasecca, near Aquino, controlled at that time by the Kingdom of Sicily. While the rest of the family's sons pursued military careers, the family intended for Thomas to follow his uncle into the abbacy; this would have been a normal career path for a younger son of southern Italian nobility.
At the age of nineteen, Thomas decided to join the Dominican Order, which had been founded about 30 years earlier. Thomas' change of heart did not please his family and he was placed under house arrest for almost a year in the family castle. Family members became desperate to dissuade Thomas, who remained determined to join the Dominicans. By 1244, seeing that all her attempts to dissuade Thomas had failed, Theodora, mother of Thomas, arranged for his escape at night through his window.
In 1245, Thomas was sent to study at the Faculty of the Arts at the University of Paris. Because Thomas was quiet and didn't speak much, some of his fellow students thought he was slow. But Albertus prophetically exclaimed: "You call him the dumb ox, but in his teaching he will one day produce such a bellowing that it will be heard throughout the world."
Among other things, he was the father of a school of thought (encompassing both theology and philosophy) known as Thomism. He argued that God is the source of both the light of natural reason and the light of faith. He has been described as "the most influential thinker of the medieval period" and "the greatest of the medieval philosopher-theologians". His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy is derived from his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory.
His best-known works are the Disputed Questions on Truth, the Summa contra Gentiles, and the unfinished but massively influential Summa Theologica, or Summa Theologiae. His commentaries on Scripture and on Aristotle also form an important part of his body of work. Furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns, which form a part of the church's liturgy.
The Catholic Church honours Thomas Aquinas as a saint and regards him as the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood. As a Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the Catholic Church's greatest theologians and philosophers.
Thomas has been traditionally ascribed with the ability to levitate. G. K. Chesterton wrote that "His experiences included well-attested cases of levitation in ecstasy; and the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, comforting him with the welcome news that he would never be a Bishop."
In 1273 at the Dominican convent of Naples in the chapel of Saint Nicholas, after Matins, Thomas lingered and was seen by the sacristan Domenic of Caserta to be levitating in prayer with tears before an icon of the crucified Christ. Christ said to Thomas, "You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward would you have for your labor?" Thomas responded, "Nothing but you, Lord."
Pope Gregory X convened the Second Council of Lyon to be held on 1 May 1274 and summoned Thomas to attend. On his way to the council, riding on a donkey along the Appian Way, he struck his head on the branch of a fallen tree and became seriously ill. He died on 7 March 1274 while giving commentary on the Song of Songs.
Fifty years after Thomas's death, on 18 July 1323, Pope John XXII, seated in Avignon, pronounced Thomas a saint.
Other Saints of the day
1. Saint Flavian
2. Saint Glastian
3. Saint John of Reomay
4. Saint Peter Nolasco
5. Saint Richard of Vaucelles
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