ST THOMAS AQUINAS 1225-1274
THE DUMB OX WHO CHANGED THE WORLD
THE ANGELIC DOCTOR
Born to an Italian aristocratic family in 1225, St Thomas Aquinas was an unassuming figure: rotund, quiet and
introverted, his peers in college gave him the moniker the dumb ox. However, beneath this introspective
exterior lay the greatest theologian the Church has ever known - considered the founder of the branch of
apologetics known as natural theology, Aquinas magnum opus, the Summa Theologiae, was one of the most
influential documents in medieval theology, and continues to be a central point of reference for the Catholic
Church. In one notable example, the Summa Theologiae was reverenced upon the altar along with the Bible at
the famous Council of Trent (1545-1563) as the Council Fathers thought it clarified many questions about
Christianity. Furthermore, his influence is still visible today in not just Christian theology but Western thought
as a whole - much of modern philosophy either develops or opposes his ideas on a vast range of subjects
ranging from metaphysics to law and politics, and he is considered to have been a key proponent of the High
Scholastic movement which gave rise to the type of free-thinking practised in universities today. Through his
teachings, he has shown that Christians should not be afraid to rationalise their faith and spread it as if it is
good to contemplate divine things, it is even better to contemplate and transmit them to others - indeed it is
good to contemplate divine things, and rational logical Christians should definitely not be thought of as
vegetarian butchers.
The Study of philosophy is not that we may know what men have thought, but what the truth of things is.
EARLY LIFE
St Thomas Aquinas is believed to have been born in 1225, in the castle of Roccasecca in Aquino, a region in the south
of Italy, to Count Lundulf of Aquino and his wife Theodora. As the youngest son in a family of 8, while his other
brothers pursued military careers, his family intended that he, as was expected of a younger son of nobility at the
time, followed his uncle into the monastery. So, at the age of 5, he was sent to the school at the nearby monastery in
Monte Cassino, where he remained until, at the age of 14, in early 1239, a conflict between Emperor Frederick II and
Pope Gregory IX meant that he was transferred to the studium generale (university) in Naples. There, he was
immersed in the works of philosophers such as Aristotle, Averroes and Maimonides, some of whose ideas would go
on to greatly influence him in later life.
Also during his studies, he met John of St Julian, an evangelistic Dominican preacher in Naples, who so impressed
him that, at the age of 19, he decided to join the new, scholastic Dominican order. However, this decision did not
please his family - they fiercely opposed it as they wanted him to become a financially secure abbot or archbishop,
rather than taking the vow of poverty required by the mendicant Dominicans. In order to prevent his family influencing
his decision, the Dominicans arranged to move Thomas to Rome and then to Paris; however, on Theodoras orders,
he was kidnapped by his brothers as he was drinking from a spring and taken back to the castle, where he was held
prisoner for 15 months. During this time, he managed to memorise nearly all of the Bible. Though his family members
tried to persuade him not to join the Dominicans, he grew ever stronger in his resolve; he even refused an offer from
his parents to buy him the post of Archbishop of Naples. One day, in an effort to make him give up his vows of
celibacy, two of his brothers hired a prostitute to seduce him; according to legend, Thomas drove her away
brandishing a poker. That night, it is said that he was visited by angels who strengthened his determination to remain
celibate.
Once Theodora realised she could not change her sons mind, deciding that allowing him to secretly escape would
better preserve the family name than a public acceptance of his decision, she arranged for him to escape from a
window in 1244. Following his escape, Thomas first went to Rome then, the next year, to the University of Paris where
he met the Dominican scholar Albertus Magnus whom he then followed to the studium generale in Cologne in 1248.
At that university, Thomas seldom spoke, leading his peers to believe that he was unintelligent - as he was also
considerably slow and large he was given the unfortunate moniker the dumb ox. However, Magnus prophetically
said, 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.
LATER LIFE AND DEATH
After leaving university, Aquinas taught in Cologne as an apprentice professor, then in 1252 he returned to Paris to
study for a masters degree in Theology, writing a number of dissertations on the books of the Old Testament. In the
spring of 1256, he was appointed regent master of Theology in Paris, and spent his tenure until 1259 writing several
books including the Summa contra Gentiles, written to aid missionaries in defending and spreading the Christian faith
especially in Islamic areas. In 1265 Aquinas was appointed as the papal theologian and summoned by the Dominican
Chapter of Agnani to teach at the studium conventuale, the first school to teach a full range of both moral and natural
philosophical subjects. During this period, he began work on his most famous book, the Summa Theologiae,
specifically suited to beginners - Because a doctor of Catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but to him
pertains also to instruct beginners. This notwithstanding, the gargantuan, unfinished tome provides one of the most
complete and in-depth analyses of Christianity and the Catholic Church, and would definitely not be considered a
resource for beginners today. After another regency in Paris, in 1273, the Dominicans invited Thomas to set up a
university in Naples, where he remained for the rest of his life.
In his final days, he was invited by Pope Gregory X to attend the Second Council of Lyon, on 1 May 1274, where his
work concerning the Greeks, Contra errores graecorum, was to be presented. However, on his way to the Council,
riding a donkey down the Appian Way, he hit his head on the branch of a fallen tree and fell gravely ill, stopping at the
Cistercian Fossanova Abbey. The monks nursed him for several days, but to no avail. He died on 7 March 1274 while
giving a commentary on the Song of Songs.
ALL THAT I HAVE WRITTEN SEEMS LIKE STRAW
On 6 December 1273, Aquinas had another religious experience - while celebrating Mass he experienced an unusually
long ecstasy, about which he refused to write or speak. This is believed by Catholics to be a theophany, but no matter
what the cause, it is clear that it was a life-changing experience in his life - he abandoned his daily routine and
refused to dictate to his socius, Reginald of Piperno. When urged to resume work, he replied, Reginald, I cannot,
because all that I have written seems like straw to me (mihi videtur ut palea), probably after realising that even
theological arguments pale when faced with the power and glory of the Lord. Thus he left his Summa Theologica
unfinished when he died three months later.
SAINTLY ATTRIBUTES
Pictures (icons) of saints often show them holding
something, or alongside different symbols (attributes).
In the Roman Catholic tradition, iconography is used
as a concise way of delivering religious messages, so
these attributes help to identify them and tell the
viewer more about their lives. Aquinas is often shown
with his Summa, alongside a sun on his chest (a
symbol of sacred learning), the robes of a Dominican
friar and a model church (possibly perhaps his
theological insights underpin the majority of Roman
Catholic dogma and therefore the Church as a whole).
WHY SAINTS?
The concept of venerating particularly holy or faithful religious figures is one common to almost every religious tradition in the world -
Buddhism has bodhisattvas, Judaism and Islam have prophets, and Christianity has saints. Originally from the Latin sanctus, meaning
a blessed or holy person, saints are believed to be holy men or women who have lived godly lives and who are blessed by God. Thus
the Church does not create saints; they only claim to recognise those who have been sanctified by God. Although different
denominations have different views on the powers of saints, and on whether saints should be venerated at all (for example, some
Protestant denominations views are that the veneration of saints and figures like the Virgin Mary can sometimes lead to overexalting
the departed saints and denigrating God - seen in prayers such as sancta Maria, ora pro nobis), it is clear that, for all Christians,
saints can be good examples as to how one can live a holy and faithful life. In the Catholic tradition, since the 12th century, the Pope
has formally recognised people who have lived holy lives as saints. This process comprises two parts: beatification and canonisation.
Beatification, or the process of being proclaimed blessed, can be carried out by the Pope. Sometimes this is followed by canonisation,
or the process of being proclaimed a saint; for this to happen (typically no less than 50 years after the candidates death) the church
must establish that the candidate lived a life in accordance with Catholic teachings (orthodoxy of faith) and that they lived a virtuous
life in the face of adversity (heroic virtue). Typically they must also have been shown to have performed two miracles after their
death after having been prayed to (at their intercession) - this is meant to be a sign that God has blessed them and that he regards
them as worthy of sainthood.
CANONISATION AND SAINTHOOD
In the case of St Thomas Aquinas, it is not known who beatified him, but he was canonised in Avignon by Pope John XXII
on July 18, 1323. This canonisation is notable in that Aquinas had not performed any miracles before he became a saint.
In the Catholic canonisation process, a canon lawyer with the title promotor fidei (Promoter of the Faith), more commonly
known as the advocatus diaboli (Devils advocate), is appointed to argue against the canonisation of a candidate taking a
sceptical viewpoint and picking holes in the evidence. They would argue against the advocatus Dei (Gods advocate), who
would make an argument in favour of canonisation. During Aquinas canonisation, the advocatus diaboli made exactly this
objection. However, one of the cardinals present answered, Tot miraculis, quot articulis - there were as many miracles (in
his life) as there are articles (in the Summa), implying that every article in the Summa is inspired by God and is a miracle in
its own right. After his canonisation, his feast day was appointed as the 7th of March, that being the day of his death.
However, in the 1969 revision of the Roman calendar, as this date normally falls within Lent, his feast day was moved to
28th January, the date of the moving of his relics to the Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse.
MINDSET AND PHILOSOPHY - THOMISM
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe lapsed into the Dark Ages - monasteries formed some of
the few centres of education, and most of Christian thought in this period tended to be mystical and based on
intuition rather than reason and logic. Theology reigned supreme among the sciences, taking the Scripture-based
stance that knowledge could only come from Gods revelations. However, after Charlemagne established schools in
every abbey in his empire in 787 AB, learning was revived in the West, and scholars started to study non-Christian
rational philosophers like Aristotle, whose works had been largely forgotten in Europe for the past few centuries.
However these began to pose a threat to the Christian worldview at the time as they seemed to be able to explain the
world by observation rather than through the word of God.
Eventually, two rival clerical orders sprung up, with different answers to this pressing question: the Franciscans,
founded by St Francis of Assisi in 1209, and the Dominicans, founded by St Dominic in 1215. While the Franciscans
stayed close to the teachings of St Augustine, arguing that reason can discover truth only when illuminated by
religious faith, the Dominicans, of which Aquinas was one, placed great emphasis on the use of reason - he believed
that the study of philosophy is not the study of what men have opined, but of what is the truth (something that
many modern philosophers could greatly benefit from remembering).
During his lifetime, Aquinas sought to rationalise the works of philosophers like Aristotle with Christian doctrine,
believing that truth is truth, and should be accepted wherever it is found - in fact, he had such great respect for
Aristotle and his logical reasoning that he referred to him as simply The Philosopher. Furthermore, at the beginning
of his immense work, the Summa Theologiae, he is quick to assert that theology included in sacred doctrine differs in
kind from that theology which is part of philosophy - that there is no reason why [things which] can be known by
natural reason, may not also be taught [to] us by [divine] revelation, but that philosophy was the handmaiden of
theology (ancilla theologiae). Thus he emphasised that someone analysing the world could deduce that an intelligent
creator exists, but they would not necessarily be able to find out more about the creator, or about His values - it [is]
necessary for divine truth to be delivered to [man] by way of faith, being told to them as it were, by God himself who
cannot lie. More succinctly put, you can know about God, and still not know God. This mindset left a mark on the
philosophy of religion for long after Aquinas death; a new philosophical school, Thomism, arose as a legacy of his
work and thought and the Catholic church adopted a mostly Thomist philosophy from then on.
NON NISI TE, DOMINE
Towards the end of Aquinas life, in 1273, he visited the chapel of St Nicholas in the Dominican convent in Naples.
After Matins, he fell deep in prayer, and it is said that he was seen by the sacristan Domenic of Caserta to be
levitating, tearful, before an icon of the crucified Christ. Before him, he could see all of his works, written throughout
his life. Christ said to Thomas, referencing all he had done to grow the theological riches of the Church, You have
written well of me, Thomas. What reward would you have for your labour? What Aquinas said next was astoundingly
humble: non nisi te, Domine (None other than You, Lord). This is an amazing example of discipleship: few gifts a
human has been given by God have paralleled those of Aquinas - such intellectual greatness and influence could
easily have led him to become proud of them. However, he reminds us that we should be humble - just as easily as
God can give these gifts, He can take them away at any time. His statement tells us that what God wants of us, and
from all his saints, is that we desire Him above all else - though Aquinas had been diligently serving the Lord, he was
not doing it out of duty, or out of a desire to become famous or successful, or even a desire to escape eternal
damnation: he was simply doing it to be with God. So we too should ask ourselves the question: what do we seek in
life? I hope we can all answer, as Aquinas did, non nisi te, Domine.
A STUDENTS PRAYER
Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, true source of light and
fountain of wisdom! Pour forth your brilliance upon my
dense intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me,
that of sin and of ignorance.
Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive
memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to
comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself.
Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and
bring it to successful completion.
This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man,
living and reigning with You and the Father, forever and
ever.
Euan Ong Wa4 U4W