Saint Thomas Aquinas

A summary of the life and writings of the Dominican Saint and Doctor of the Church

1. SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS

2. Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of the Scholastic philosophers. He produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy that influenced Roman Catholic doctrine for centuries and was adopted as the official philosophy of the church in 1917.

3. Thomas Aquinas was born in the castle of Roccasecca, near Aquino, controlled at that time by the Kingdom of Sicily (in present-day Lazio, Italy), c. 1225

4. Landulf of Aquino was a man of means. As a knight in the service of Emperor Frederick II

5. Thomas's mother, Theodora , belonged to the Rossi branch of the Neapolitan Caracciolo family

6. While the rest of the family's sons pursued military careers

7. the family intended for Thomas to follow his uncle into the Benedictine abbacy of Monte Cassino

8. At the age of five Thomas began his early education at Monte Cassino but after the military conflict between the Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX spilled into the abbey in early 1239, Landulf and Theodora had Thomas enrolled at the studium generale (university) recently established by Frederick in Naples.

9. There his teacher in logic and arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music was Petrus de Hibernia.

10. It was here that Thomas was probably introduced to Aristotle, Averroes and Maimonides , all of whom would influence his theological philosophy. It was also during his study at Naples that Thomas came under the influence of John of St. Julian , a Dominican preacher in Naples, who was part of the active effort by the Dominican order to recruit devout followers.

11. At the age of nineteen Thomas resolved to join the Dominican Order, (instead of the Benedictines) which had been founded about 30 years earlier. Thomas's change of heart did not please his family. In an attempt to prevent Theodora's interference in Thomas's choice, the Dominicans arranged to move Thomas to Rome, and from Rome, to Paris.

12. However, while on his journey to Rome, per Theodora's instructions, his brothers seized him as he was drinking from a spring and took him back to his parents at the castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano

13. Thomas was held prisoner for almost one year in the family castles at Monte San Giovanni and Roccasecca in an attempt to prevent him from assuming the Dominican habit and to push him into renouncing his new aspiration. Political concerns prevented the Pope from ordering Thomas's release, which had the effect of extending Thomas's detention. Thomas passed this time of trial tutoring his sisters and communicating with members of the Dominican Order

14. two of his brothers resorted to the measure of hiring a harlot to seduce him. As included in the official records for his canonization, Thomas drove her away wielding a burning log - with which he inscribed a cross onto the wall -

15. In a mystical ecstasy; two angels appeared to him as he slept and said, "Behold, we gird thee by the command of God with the girdle of chastity, which henceforth will never be imperiled. What human strength can not obtain, is now bestowed upon thee as a celestial gift."

16. From that moment on, Thomas was given the grace of perfect chastity by Christ and he wore the girdle till the end of his life.

17. and is now at Chieri, near Turin The girdle was given to the ancient monastery of Vercelli in Piedmont,

18. By 1244, seeing that all her attempts to dissuade Thomas had failed, Theodora sought to save the family's dignity, arranging for Thomas to escape at night through his window. In her mind, a secret escape from detention was less damaging than an open surrender to the Dominicans. Thomas was sent first to Naples and then to Rome to meet Johannes von Wildeshausen, the Master General of the Dominican Order Johannes von Wildeshausen

19. Thomas takes the Dominican habit

20. In 1245 Thomas was sent to study at the Faculty of the Arts at the University of Paris, where he most likely met Dominican scholar Albertus Magnus , then the holder of the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James in Paris .

21. When Albertus was sent by his superiors to teach at the new studium generale at Cologne in 1248, Thomas followed him, declining Pope Innocent IV's offer to appoint him abbot of Monte Cassino as a Dominican.

22. Albertus appointed the reluctant Thomas magister studentium. Because Thomas was quiet and didn't speak much, some of his fellow students thought he was slow ,

23. 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."

24. Thomas taught in Cologne as an apprentice professor taking time to write some commentaries on the bible…

25. Then in 1252 he returned to Paris to study for the master's degree in theology. He lectured on the Bible as an apprentice professor, . . . .

26. upon becoming a baccalaureus Sententiarum (bachelor of the Sentences) he devoted his final three years of study to commenting on Peter Lombard's Sentences. In the first of his four theological syntheses, Thomas composed a massive commentary on the Sentences titled Scriptum super libros Sententiarium (Commentary on the Sentences).

27. Aside from his master's writings, he wrote De ente et essentia (On Being and E ssence ) for his fellow Dominicans in Paris

28. In the spring of 1256 Thomas was appointed regent master in theology at Paris and one of his first works upon assuming this office was Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem -

29. - Against Those Who Assail the Worship of God and Religion, defending the mendicant orders, which had come under attack by William of Saint-Amour

30. During his tenure from 1256 to 1259, Thomas wrote numerous works,…

31. He returned to Naples where he was appointed as general preacher by the provincial chapter of 29 September 1260.

32. In September 1261 he was called to Orvieto ; as conventual lector he was responsible for the pastoral formation of the friars unable to attend a studium generale. In Orvieto Thomas completed his Summa contra Gentiles , wrote the Catena aurea (The Golden Chain)

33. He produced works for Pope Urban IV such as the liturgy for the newly created feast of Corpus Christi and the Contra errores graecorum

34. In February 1265 the newly elected Pope Clement IV summoned Thomas to Rome to serve as papal theologian.

35. This same year he was ordered by the Dominican Chapter of Agnani to teach at the studium conventuale at the Roman convent of Santa Sabina , founded some years before, in 1222.

36. The studium at Santa Sabina ..the Order's first studium provinciale, an intermediate school between the studium conventuale and the studium generale. …… The new studium provinciale at Santa Sabina was to be a more advanced school for the province. …Thomas taught the full range of philosophical subjects, both moral and natural

37. While at Agnani he also wrote a variety of other works like his unfinished Compendium Theologiae ….

38. Thomas conducted a series of important disputations on the power of God, which he compiled into his De potentia

39. In 1267 the Franciscan master William of Baglione accused Thomas of encouraging Averroists , He was called back to Paris in 1268 for a second teaching regency. … T his sudden reassignment appears to have arisen from the rise of "Averroism" or "radical Aristotelianism" in the universities.

40. Thomas was angered when he discovered Siger of Brabant teaching Averroistic interpretations of Aristotle to Parisian students .

41. On 10 December 1270, the Bishop of Paris, Étienne Tempier, issued an edict condemning thirteen Aristotelian and Averroistic propositions as heretical and excommunicating anyone who continued to support them

42. In response to these perceived errors, Thomas wrote two works, one of them being De unitate intellectus, contra Averroistas

43. During his second regency, he finished the second part of the Summa and wrote De virtutibus and De aeternitate mundi, contra murmurantes.

44. He established a studium generale in Naples and took the post as regent master there.

45. He also preached to the people of Naples in Lent 1273.

46. 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

47. the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, comforting him w ith the news that he would never be a Bishop .

48. It is traditionally held that on one occasion, 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."

49. On 6 December 1273, another mystical experience took place. While he was celebrating Mass, he experienced an unusually long ecstasy. Because of what he saw, he abandoned his routine and refused to dictate to his socius Reginald of Piperno. When Reginald begged him to get back to work, Thomas replied: "Reginald, I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me

50. Pope Gregory X convened the Second Council of Lyon to be held on 1 May 1274 and summoned Thomas to attend… on his way he became seriously ill.

51. He was quickly escorted to Monte Cassino to convalesce, and later at the Cistercian Abbey in Fossanova.

52. He died on 7 March 1274 while giving commentary on the Song of Songs

53. Fifty years after Thomas's death, on 18 July 1323, Pope John XXII, seated in Avignon, pronounced Thomas a saint.

54. in 1567, Pope Pius V proclaimed St. Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church and ranked his feast with those of the four great Latin fathers: Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome and Gregory

55. 4 August 1879, Aeterni Patris, Pope Leo XIII stated that Thomas Aquinas’ theology was a definitive exposition of Catholic doctrine. Thus, he directed the clergy to take the teachings of Thomas as the basis of their theological positions

56. The Prayer to St . Thomas for Purity Chosen lily of innocence, pure St . Thomas, who kept chaste the robe of baptism and became an angel in the flesh after being girded by two angels, I implore you to commend me to Jesus, the Spotless Lamb, and to Mary, the Queen of Virgins. Gentle protector of my purity, ask them that I, who wear the holy sign of your victory over the flesh, may also share your purity, and after imitating you on earth may at last come to be crowned with you among the angels. Amen .

57.   The Prayer of St. Thomas for Purity Dear Jesus, I know that every perfect gift, and especially that of chastity , depends on the power of Your providence. Without You a mere creature can do nothing. Therefore, I beg You to defend by Your grace the chastity and purity of my body and soul . And if I have ever sensed or imagined anything that could stain my chastity and purity, blot it out, Supreme Lord of my powers, that I may advance with a pure heart in Your love and service , offering myself on the most pure altar of Your divinity all the days of my life . Amen .

58. SOME SUBJECTS TREATED BY SAINT THOMAS   BIBLE AND THEOLOGY Commentaries on Aristotle, books of the bible God, creation, sin, revelation, Jesus Christ, grace, eschatology, Body and soul, Human identity and immortality PHILOSOPHY - Epistemology Psychology – perception and thought Metaphysics Composition of physical objects Matter and form Substance, essence and existence Act and potential, analogies Ethics, Virtues Natural law Political order and systems of government, Just war, Some 200 years later, the School of Salamanca expanded Thomas's understanding of natural law and just war. Economics

59. Famous Thomists G. E. M. Anscombe J. Budziszewski Frederick Copleston Brian Davies Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange G. K. Chesterton É tienne Gilson Alasdair MacIntyre Jacques Maritain Ralph McInerny Josef Pieper James V. Schall Etc.

60. Some Schools named after Thomas Aquinas Aquinas Institute, New York Aquinas School in San Juan City, Philippines Aquinas University in Legazpi City, Philippines International Council of Universities of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Houston Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, Vatican City St. Thomas Aquinas College, New York St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Florida) St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Kansas) Thomas Aquinas College, California and Massachusetts University of Santo Tomas, Philippines University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Aquinas College (Michigan) Aquinas College, Stockport, England Aquinas College (Tennessee), Nashville, Tennessee St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School (North Vancouver), British Columbia, Canada St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School Lindsay, Ontario, Canada St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (London, Ontario), Canada St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School Oakville, Ontario, Canada St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School (Brampton), Ontario, Canada St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (Tottenham), Ontario, Canada

61. LIST OF PRESENTATIONS IN ENGLISH Revised 30-9- 2021 Advent and Christmas – time of hope and peace All Souls Day Amoris Laetitia – ch 1 – In the Light of the Word Amoris Laetitia – ch 2 – The Experiences and Challenges of Families Amoris Laetitia – ch 3 - Looking to Jesus, the Vocation of the Family Amoris Laetitia – ch 4 - Love in Marriage Amoris Laetitia – ch 5 – Love made Fruitfuol Amoris Laetitia – ch 6 – Some Pastoral Perspectives Amoris Laetitia – ch 7 – Towards a better education of children Amoris Laetitia – ch 8 – Accompanying, discerning and integrating weaknwss Amoris Laetitia – ch 9 – The Spirituality of Marriage and the Family Beloved Amazon 1ª – A Social Dream Beloved Amazon 2 - A Cultural Dream Beloved Amazon 3 – An Ecological Dream Beloved Amazon 4 - An Ecclesiastical Dream Carnival Christ is Alive Familiaris Consortio (FC) 1 – Church and Family today Familiaris Consortio (FC) 2 - God ’ s plan for the family Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 1 – family as a Community Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 2 – serving life and education Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 3 – mission of the family in society Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 4 - Family in the Church Familiaris Consortio (FC) 4 Pastoral familiar Football in Spain Haurietis aquas – devotion to the Sacred Heart by Pius XII Holidays and Holy Days Holy Spirit Holy Week – drawings for children Holy Week – glmjpses of the last hours of JC Inauguration of President Donald Trump Juno explores Jupiter Laudato si 1 – care for the common home Laudato si 2 – Gospel of creation Laudato si 3 – Human roots of the ecological crisis Laudato si 4 – integral ecology Laudato si 5 – lines of approach and action Laudato si 6 – Education y Ecological Spirituality Love and Marriage 12,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Lumen Fidei – ch 1,2,3,4 Martyrs of North America and Canada Medjugore Pilgrimage Misericordiae Vultus in English Mother Teresa of Calcuta – Saint Pope Franciss in Thailand Pope Francis in Japan Pope Francis in Sweden Pope Francis in Hungary, Slovaquia Pope Francis in America Pope Francis in the WYD in Poland 2016 Querida Amazonia Resurrection of Jesus Christ – according to the Gospels Russian Revolution and Communismo 3 civil war 1918.1921 Russian Revolution and Communism 1 Russian Revolution and Communismo 2 Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr Saint Albert the Great Saint Anthony of Padua Saint Francis de Sales Saint Francis of Assisi Saint Ignatius of Loyola Saint James, apostle Saint John N. Neumann, bishop of Philadelphia Saint Joseph Saint Maria Goretti Saint Martin of Tours Saint Maximilian Kolbe Saint Mother Theresa of Calcutta Saint Jean Baptiste MarieaVianney, Curé of Ars Saint John N. Neumann, bishop of Philadelphia Saint John of the Cross Saint Patrick and Ireland Saints Zachary and Elizabeth, parents of John Baptis Signs of hope Sunday – day of the Lord Thanksgiving – History and Customs The Body , the cult – ( Eucharist ) Valentine Vocation – [email protected] Way of the Cross – drawings for children For commentaries – email – [email protected] Fb – Martin M Flynn Donations to -  BANCO - 03069 INTESA SANPAOLO SPA Name – EUR-CA-ASTI IBAN – IT61Q0306909606100000139493

62. LISTA DE PRESENTACIONES EN ESPA Ñ OL Revisado 30-9 -2021 Abuelos Adviento y Navidad, tiempo de esperanza Amor y Matrimonio 1 - 9 Amoris Laetitia – ch 1 – A la luz de la Palabre Amoris Laetitia – ch 2 – Realidad y Desafíos de las Familias Amoris Laetitia – ch 3 La mirada puesta en Jesús: Vocación de la Familia Amoris Laetitia – ch 4 - El Amor en el Matrimonio Amoris Laetitia – ch 5 – Amor que se vuelve fecundo Amoris Laetitia – ch 6 – Algunas Perspectivas Pastorales Amoris Laetitia – ch 7 – Fortalecer la educacion de los hijos Amoris Laetitia – ch 8 – Acompañar, discernir e integrar la fragilidad Amoris Laetitia – ch 9 – Espiritualidad Matrimonial y Familiar Carnaval Cristo Vive Dia de todos los difuntos Domingo – d í a del Se ñ or El camino de la cruz de JC en dibujos para ni ñ os El Cuerpo, el culto – (eucaris í a) Esp í ritu Santo Familiaris Consortio (FC) 1 – iglesia y familia hoy Familiaris Consortio (FC) 2 - el plan de Dios para la familia Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 1 – familia como comunidad Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 2 – servicio a la vida y educaci ó n Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 3 – misi ó n de la familia en la sociedad Familiaris Consortio (FC) 3 – 4 - participaci ó n de la familia en l a iglesia Familiaris Consortio (FC) 4 Pastoral familiar F á tima – Historia de las Apariciones de la Virgen Feria de Sevilla Haurietis aquas – el culto al Sagrado Coraz ó n Hermandades y cofrad í as Hispanidad Laudato si 1 – cuidado del hogar com ú n Laudato si 2 – evangelio de creaci ó n Laudato si 3 – La ra í z de la crisis ecol ó gica Laudato si 4 – ecolog í a integral Laudato si 5 – l í neas de acci ó n Laudato si 6 – Educaci ó n y Espiritualidad Ecol ó gica Lumen Fidei – cap 1,2,3,4 Madre Teresa de Calcuta – Santa Mar í a y la Biblia Martires de Nor America y Canada Medjugore peregrinaci ó n Misericordiae Vultus en Espa ñ ol Papa Francisco en Bulgaria Papa Francisco en Rumania Papa Francisco en Marruecos Papa Francisco en M é xico Papa Francisco – mensaje para la Jornada Mundial Juventud 2016 Papa Francisco – visita a Chile Papa Francisco – visita a Per ú Papa Francisco en Colombia 1 + 2 Papa Francisco en Cuba Papa Francisco en F á tima Papa Francisco en la JMJ 2016 – Polonia Papa Francisco en Hugaría e Eslovaquia Queridas Amazoznia 1,2,3,4 Resurrecci ó n de Jesucristo – seg ú n los Evangelios Revoluci ó n Rusa y Comunismo 1, 2, 3 Santa Agata, virgen y martir San Alberto Magno San Antonio de Padua San Francisco de Asis 1,2,3,4 San Francisco de Sales Santa Maria Goretti San Ignacio de Loyola San José, obrero, marido, padre San Juan Ma Vianney, Curé de’Ars San Juan de la Cruz San Juan N. Neumann, obispo de Philadelphia San Martin de Tours San Maximiliano Kolbe Santa Teresa de Calcuta San Padre Pio de Pietralcina San Patricio e Irlanda Santiago Ap ó stol Santos Zacarias e Isabel, padres de Juan Bautista Semana santa – Vistas de las ú ltimas horas de JC Vacaciones Cristianas Valent í n Virgen de Guadalupe Vocaci ó n – www.vocación.org Vocación a evangelizar Para comentarios – email – [email protected] fb – martin m . flynn Donations to -  BANCO - 03069 INTESA SANPAOLO SPA Name – EUR-CA-ASTI. IBAN – IT61Q0306909606100000139493