Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224–1225 – 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar (Friar Preacher), priest, theologian and philosopher, regarded as the greatest Doctor of the Church of the Middle Ages and one of the summits of Catholic thought of all time. A master at the University of Paris, he achieved the great synthesis between Christian faith and reason, integrating the philosophy of Aristotle into the heart of theology without ever letting it dissolve mystery.[1][2]
Author of the Summa Theologiae, one of the most influential works in the history of the West, he left behind an immense body of work — summae, biblical commentaries, commentaries on Aristotle, shorter treatises — written in less than twenty years. Tradition has surnamed him the Angelic Doctor, for the purity of his life and the loftiness of his doctrine, and the Common Doctor, because his teaching has become the shared heritage of the whole Church.[3][4]
But the theologian was first a saint and a contemplative. A poet of the Eucharist — he composed the office of the Blessed Sacrament and hymns still sung today —, a man of prayer of disarming humility, he underwent at the end of his life a mystical experience so sublime that he ceased to write, judging his work to be as "straw" beside what he had seen.[5][6]
He died at the Cistercian abbey of Fossanova in 1274, while travelling to the Second Council of Lyons; he was canonized in 1323 by John XXII, proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1567 by Saint Pius V, and then placed at the centre of the revival of Catholic studies by Leo XIII in the encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879). His feast is celebrated on 28 January.[7][8]
The setting: the 13th century, Aristotle and the mendicant orders
A century of intellectual ferment
The 13th century is the great century of the newborn universities. Paris, Oxford, Bologna and Naples became the homes of a new way of thinking. There, scholars rediscovered the complete works of Aristotle, transmitted and commented by Arab scholars — Avicenna, Averroes — and translated into Latin. This irruption of a pagan, rational and powerful philosophy confronted Christendom with a decisive question: can philosophical reason and revealed faith agree, or do they contradict each other?[9][10]
It is also the century of the mendicant orders. The Friars Minor of Francis of Assisi and the Friars Preachers of Dominic, born at the start of the century, overturned religious life by combining radical poverty, preaching and intellectual engagement. Very quickly, these young orders seized the chairs of the universities, to the point of provoking the hostility of the secular clergy.[11]
Roccasecca: a birth into the high nobility
Thomas was born around 1224–1225 at the castle of Roccasecca, in the county of Aquino, on the borders of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Papal States. He belonged to a family of the high nobility: his father, Landulf of Aquino, was Count of Aquino; his mother, Theodora, was related to great Campanian houses. The family was connected to Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, in a region disputed between Empire and papacy.[12][13]
As a younger son of a great lineage, Thomas was destined by his family for a brilliant ecclesiastical career: his parents dreamed of one day seeing him abbot of prestigious Monte Cassino, an office of power and prestige. The destiny God had in store for him would take a wholly different path.[14][15]
A thwarted vocation: from Monte Cassino to the Preachers
The oblate of Monte Cassino
At about the age of five, Thomas was entrusted as an oblate to the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, the cradle of Western monasticism founded by Saint Benedict. There he received his first education, in silence, liturgy and study. Tradition reports that the child was already putting to his masters a question of unexpected depth: "What is God?".[16][17]
Naples, Aristotle and the discovery of the Preachers
Around 1239, the troubles between Frederick II and the papacy forced Thomas to leave Monte Cassino. He continued his studies at the University of Naples, founded by the emperor — one of the few places in the West where the philosophy of Aristotle was then freely taught. It was there that the young man discovered the power of philosophical reason — and there too that he met the Friars Preachers, a recent order devoted to preaching and study.[18][19]
Fascinated by this ideal of poverty and intellectual life in the service of the Word, Thomas decided, around 1244, to enter the Dominicans. For his noble family, who saw him as a Benedictine abbot and great prince of the Church, the choice of a mendicant order was a scandal.[20][21]
Imprisoned by his family (1244–1245)
The reaction was brutal. As the Preachers were sending Thomas to Paris to remove him from his family's influence, his brothers, on their mother's orders, seized him on the road and brought him back by force to Roccasecca castle, where he was held prisoner for nearly a year.[22][23]
During this captivity, the family multiplied its pressures to turn him from his vocation. Thomas, for his part, used the time to study Scripture and philosophy. His determination was unshakeable: in the end he resumed, with the agreement of his mother, weary of resisting, the road of the Preachers.[24][25]
The trial of chastity
One famous episode of this captivity is reported by the first biographers: to break his resolve, his brothers are said to have introduced a courtesan into his room. Thomas is said to have driven her away by seizing a burning brand from the fireplace. According to tradition, two angels then girt his loins with a mysterious cord, obtaining for him the gift of perfect chastity for the rest of his life. Beyond the story, the episode tells of the transparency of a soul wholly given to God.[26][27]
Formation: Albert the Great, Paris and Cologne
The "dumb ox" of Cologne
Freed, Thomas rejoined the order and left to study at Paris, then at Cologne, where the greatest scholar of the age was teaching, the Dominican Albert the Great. Massive, silent, withdrawn into himself, the young Thomas at first passed for slow. His fellow students nicknamed him the "dumb ox" (bos mutus).[28][29]
Albert, however, was not deceived. According to his first biographer, William of Tocco, he is said to have predicted to the mockers that this silent one would one day make his doctrine resound throughout the world.[30]
At the side of Albert the Great
With Albert, Thomas found the decisive master. Albert had undertaken to assimilate the whole of Aristotelian learning to Christian thought; Thomas received this programme from him and would carry it to a degree of perfection his master had not attained. From Cologne he brought back the conviction that would guide his entire work: truth is one, and whatever is true in philosophy cannot contradict what God reveals.[31][32]
Master of theology at Paris (1256)
Back in Paris, Thomas commented on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, then obtained in 1256 the mastership in theology — the highest teaching authority in Christendom. Like Bonaventure, the great Franciscan master made doctor the following year (1257), he had to face the hostility of the secular clergy against the mendicant orders. From then on, his life would be that of an itinerant master, divided between Paris, the pontifical court in Italy (Orvieto, Rome) and Naples.[33][34]
The master and the writer: an immense work
In less than twenty years, Thomas produced a work of staggering scope and coherence: theological summae, biblical commentaries, commentaries on Aristotle, shorter treatises, liturgical hymns. He is said to have dictated to several secretaries at once, on different subjects.[35][36]
The table below summarizes his most notable works.
| Work | Genre | Approximate date | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commentary on the Sentences | Scholastic theology | c. 1252–1256 | First great systematic commentary, at Paris |
| De ente et essentia | Metaphysics | c. 1252–1256 | Short foundational treatise on being and essence |
| Summa contra Gentiles | Apologetics | c. 1259–1265 | Exposition of the faith addressed to those who do not receive Scripture |
| Catena aurea | Exegesis | c. 1262–1268 | Chain of patristic commentaries on the four Gospels |
| Office of the Blessed Sacrament | Liturgy | 1264 | Office and hymns of Corpus Christi |
| Commentaries on Aristotle | Philosophy | c. 1268–1273 | Ethics, Metaphysics, Physics, On the Soul, etc. |
| Summa Theologiae | Theology | 1265–1273 (unfinished) | The great synthesis of all theology |
The Summa Theologiae
The Summa Theologiae is the masterwork, conceived as a manual for beginners — which says much about the standards of Thomas. It unfolds in three great parts: the Prima Pars treats of God and creation; the Secunda Pars of man, his end, the passions, the virtues and the law; the Tertia Pars of Christ, the sacraments and the return of all things to God.[37][38]
Each question is treated according to the method of scholastic disputation: a question is posed, the strongest objections are set out, the answer is given, and then each objection is answered in turn. This intellectual honesty — giving first their full force to opposing arguments — makes the Summa a model of rigour never equalled.[39][40]
The five ways
At the threshold of the Summa, Thomas proposes his famous five ways (quinque viae) for establishing God's existence rationally: motion (the first mover), causality (the first cause), contingency (the necessary being), degrees of perfection, and finality (the order of the world). These proofs do not claim to replace faith, but show that reason, left to itself, can rise to the threshold of mystery.[41][42]
Aristotle baptized: the Averroist quarrel
The enterprise of Thomas did not command unanimous assent. Certain masters of the Paris faculty of arts, known as the Latin Averroists (around Siger of Brabant), drew from Aristotle theses incompatible with the faith — the eternity of the world, the unity of the intellect, a "double truth". At the opposite extreme, conservative theologians mistrusted any intrusion of pagan philosophy.[43][44]
Thomas holds a third way: he purifies Aristotle of his errors and shows that true philosophy, far from threatening faith, serves it. For him, "grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it" — the formula that sums up his whole genius. Benedict XVI underlined the scope of this synthesis:
"In the end, Thomas Aquinas showed that a natural harmony exists between Christian faith and reason. And such was the great work of Thomas who, at that moment of conflict between two cultures — that moment when it seemed that faith had to capitulate before reason — showed that the two go together, that what appeared as reason incompatible with faith was not reason, and that what appeared as faith was not faith, if it opposed true rationality; he thus created a new synthesis, which shaped the culture of the centuries that followed." — Benedict XVI, general audience of 2 June 2010[45]
The poet of the Eucharist
The most rigorous theologian of the Middle Ages was also one of its greatest liturgical poets. Thomas had an ardent devotion to the Eucharist: he prayed at length before the tabernacle, and tradition reports that he would rest his head against it before resolving the most difficult questions.[46][47]
The office of the Blessed Sacrament (1264)
In 1264, Pope Urban IV, then residing at Orvieto, instituted for the whole Church the feast of Corpus Christi, following in particular the Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena. He entrusted the composition of its liturgical office to Thomas Aquinas. The Friar Preacher then composed a masterpiece of theology and prayer, in which the doctrine of the Real Presence becomes song.[48][49]
Hymns still sung today
From this office were born hymns the Church still sings: the Pange lingua (whose last two stanzas form the Tantum ergo, sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament), the Lauda Sion, the Sacris solemniis (with the Panis angelicus), the Verbum supernum (with the O salutaris hostia).[50][51] Tradition also attributes to Thomas the private prayer Adoro te devote, which does not belong to this office but to his personal devotion.[52]
The Adoro te devote opens with the adoration of the hidden God, truly present under the appearances of bread, before whom the heart submits wholly and faints in contemplating him.[53]
In the Pange lingua, Thomas condenses into a few verses the whole of Eucharistic faith: where the senses remain powerless to grasp the mystery, faith alone suffices to strengthen an upright heart.[54]
The saint: prayer, humility and mysticism
"Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma"
The holiness of Thomas cannot be separated from his learning: he prayed what he thought, and thought what he prayed. Tradition reports that one day, at Naples, as he prayed before the crucifix in the chapel of Saint Nicholas, a voice came from the cross:
"Thou hast written well of me, Thomas; what reward wilt thou receive?" — Christ to Thomas, according to tradition[55]
And Thomas answered, in a word that sums up his whole life:
"None other than Thyself, Lord." — Saint Thomas Aquinas (Non aliam, Domine, nisi te ipsum)[56]
The man who had written so much about God desired, in the end, only God himself.
6 December 1273: "all seems to me as straw"
On 6 December 1273, while celebrating Mass at Naples, Thomas received a mystical experience of such intensity that from then on he ceased to write and dictate, leaving the Summa unfinished. To his secretary and friend Reginald of Piperno, who urged him to resume his work, he gave this shattering reply:
"I can do no more. All that I have written seems to me as straw beside what has been revealed to me." — Saint Thomas Aquinas, to Reginald of Piperno (mihi videtur ut palea)[57]
It was no repudiation of his work — the Church, on the contrary, received it as a treasure — but the confession of a contemplative who had glimpsed the light towards which all his theology tended: before the reality of God, the finest words are but straw.[58][59]
A giant's humility
Despite his genius, Thomas was of remarkable humility and gentleness. He refused ecclesiastical honours — including the archbishopric of Naples, which they wished to offer him —, lived poorly, and treated the objections of his adversaries with a charity that disarmed them. His inward motto lay in the simplicity of the Monte Cassino child who asked: "What is God?".[60][61]
Death at Fossanova (7 March 1274)
At the beginning of 1274, ill, Thomas set out for the Second Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X had summoned him to work for union with the Eastern Churches. On the way, his condition worsened. He was received at the Cistercian abbey of Fossanova, in Latium.[62][63]
There, asking to receive viaticum, he pronounced before the host a Eucharistic profession of faith of limpid beauty, the extension of all he had sung. He died on 7 March 1274, aged about forty-nine, while commenting on the Song of Songs at the monks' request. The contemporary of Bonaventure, who also died that year, disappeared on the threshold of the council both were to honour.[64][65]
Thomas and Bonaventure: two complementary geniuses
The 13th century saw shining side by side two doctors, friends and rivals in friendship, made masters a year apart — Thomas in 1256, Bonaventure in 1257 — who died in the same year (1274). Their two paths do not oppose each other: they complement each other, like knowledge and love.[66]
| Saint Thomas Aquinas | Saint Bonaventure | |
|---|---|---|
| Order | Friars Preachers (Dominican) | Friars Minor (Franciscan) |
| Title | Angelic Doctor | Seraphic Doctor |
| Lineage | Aristotle, integrated into faith | Augustine, Anselm, Denys, the Victorines |
| Nature of theology | Speculative science, ordered to truth | Affective wisdom, born of love |
| Ultimate end of man | To see God | To love God |
| Primacy | The intellect, knowledge | The will, charity |
| Doctorate | 1256 | 1257 |
| Death | 7 March 1274 (Fossanova) | 15 July 1274 (Lyons) |
| Doctor of the Church | 1567 (Pius V) | 1588 (Sixtus V) |
Canonization, doctorate and triumph of Thomism
Canonization (1323)
After his death, the authority of Thomas grew despite controversies: some of his theses were even targeted in the Paris condemnations of 1277. But the underlying movement was irresistible. On 18 July 1323, at Avignon, Pope John XXII solemnly inscribed Thomas Aquinas in the catalogue of saints. The canonization by that very fact lifted the suspicions that weighed on his doctrine.[67][68]
Doctor of the Church (1567)
Two and a half centuries later, in the aftermath of the Council of Trent — which had largely drawn on his doctrine —, the Dominican pope Saint Pius V proclaimed Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church in 1567, placing him among the greatest masters of the faith. His title of Angelic Doctor became the common heritage of Catholicism.[69][70]
Aeterni Patris and the Thomist revival (1879)
The most dazzling triumph came in the 19th century. On 4 August 1879, Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Aeterni Patris, calling for the restoration in Catholic schools of Christian philosophy "in the spirit of the Angelic Doctor". Leo XIII launched the Leonine critical edition of the complete works of Thomas and, in 1880, proclaimed him patron of all Catholic universities, academies and schools.[71][72]
"Let the teachers chosen by you set forth the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas to their pupils, and bring to light its solidity and excellence above the rest." — Leo XIII, encyclical Aeterni Patris, 4 August 1879[73]
The authority of Thomas has been constantly reaffirmed since: by the 1983 Code of Canon Law (can. 252, § 3: seminarians study dogmatic theology "with Saint Thomas as their principal master"), by the Second Vatican Council — which explicitly recommends forming future priests in his school —, and by contemporary popes.[74][75]
What remains today of Saint Thomas Aquinas?
The relics at Toulouse
The relics of Thomas were transferred in 1369, on the orders of Pope Urban V, from Fossanova to the church of the Jacobins convent in Toulouse, the first convent of the Order of Preachers. Sheltered at Saint-Sernin basilica during the Revolution, they remained there until 1974 — the seventh centenary year of his death — when they returned to the Jacobins. The tomb of the Angelic Doctor remains there a place of international pilgrimage.[76][77]
Patron of studies and universities
Saint Thomas is the patron of universities, schools, students and Catholic theologians. His feast, fixed on 28 January (the day of the translation of his relics), is celebrated throughout the world, particularly in the Catholic teaching institutions that claim his heritage.[78][79]
A master for today
More than seven centuries after his death, Thomas Aquinas remains a living master. In an age tempted by fideism (faith without reason) as by rationalism (reason without faith), he recalls that truth is one and that intelligence, far from being the enemy of faith, is its servant and friend. Benedict XVI summed up the timeliness of his lesson:
"Saint Thomas proposes to us a broad and confident notion of human reason: broad because it is not limited to the spaces of so-called empirico-scientific reason, but open to the whole of being; confident because human reason is capable of truth." — Benedict XVI, general audience of 16 June 2010[80]
The "dumb ox" of Cologne still bellows: his doctrine, born of prayer as much as of study, continues to enlighten the Church and to lead minds, by reason, to the threshold of adoration.
To go further
- Read Saint Bonaventure (1221–1274): the contemporary friend, the Seraphic Doctor, the other great master of the 13th century, theologian of love.
- Read Saint Albert the Great (1200–1280): the master of Cologne who formed Thomas and prophesied his genius.
- Read Saint Dominic (1170–1221): the founder of the Order of Preachers, which Thomas joined.
- Read The Council of Trent (1545–1563): the great council of the Catholic Reformation, nourished by Thomist doctrine.
- Remember the essentials: Saint Thomas Aquinas, Friar Preacher and Angelic Doctor, was at once the greatest theologian of the Middle Ages, the poet of the Eucharist, and a contemplative whose whole learning resolved, in the evening of his life, into the silence of adoration.
Notes and References
Benedict XVI, general audience of 2 June 2010 (Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1): vatican.va. Setting, formation, the "dumb ox", harmony between faith and reason, the "new synthesis".
1 9 17 45Biography of Saint Thomas Aquinas, website of the Thomist centenary jubilee: thomas-aquinas-jubileum.org. Biographical synthesis (birth at Roccasecca, Monte Cassino, Naples, entry among the Dominicans, formation, work, death at Fossanova).
2 10 12 16 20 24 32 61 64Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent), "St. Thomas Aquinas": newadvent.org. Classic notice: birth, oblate at Monte Cassino, Naples, entry among the Preachers, family imprisonment, episode of chastity, Albert the Great, Parisian mastership.
3 11 14 19 22 26 29 34 35 63Benedict XVI, general audience of 16 June 2010 (Saint Thomas Aquinas, 2): vatican.va. Method, faith-reason synthesis, philosophy/theology distinction, Vatican II recommendation, "broad and confident notion of reason".
4 31 36 40 43 66 70 74 80Benedict XVI, general audience of 23 June 2010 (Saint Thomas Aquinas, 3): vatican.va. Spirituality, Eucharistic devotion, prayer, structure of the Summa, end of life.
5 38 42 46 49 59 60 65 75Catholic Answers, "When St. Thomas Aquinas Likened his Work to Straw…": catholic.com. Mystical experience of 6 December 1273, words to Reginald of Piperno (mihi videtur ut palea), interpretation (not a repudiation of the work).
6 57 58Canonization of Thomas Aquinas, 18 July 1323 at Avignon by John XXII: en.wikipedia.org. Context of the 1277 condemnations and lifting of suspicions by the canonization.
7 67Leo XIII, encyclical Aeterni Patris, 4 August 1879: vatican.va. Restoration of Christian philosophy "in the spirit of the Angelic Doctor", Leonine edition, and (1880) patronage of Catholic universities and schools.
8 71 73 79French Wikipedia, "Thomas d'Aquin": fr.wikipedia.org. Detailed encyclopaedic article (dates, biography, works, condemnations of 1277, canonization, doctorate, relics at Toulouse, feast); used for cross-checking facts.
13 21 25 27 44 51 68 69 72 76 78Revue thomiste, "Chronological landmarks on Saint Thomas Aquinas": revuethomiste.fr. Detailed chronology: oblate at Monte Cassino (1230–1239), studies at Naples (1239–1244), Dominican (1244), captivity (1244–1245), Paris and Cologne with Albert (1245–1252), mastership in theology (1256), regent master at Paris, Rome and Naples, death on 7 March 1274, canonization on 18 July 1323.
15 18 23 33 62The words are reported by medieval hagiographical sources, foremost among them the first biographer of Thomas, William of Tocco (Ystoria sancti Thome de Aquino, early 14th century): "Nos vocamus istum bovem mutum, sed ipse adhuc talem dabit in doctrina mugitum, quod in toto mundo sonabit" — "We call him the dumb ox, but by his doctrine he will yet utter such a lowing that it will resound throughout the whole world" (Ignispedia's translation of the quoted Latin).
28 30Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 1265–1273; French reference edition (trans. Frère Réginald-Marie) consulted in the Ignis library. Structure in three parts (Prima, Secunda, Tertia Pars), method of scholastic disputation, five ways (I, q. 2, a. 3).
37 39 41Office and hymns of the Blessed Sacrament composed by Thomas Aquinas at the request of Urban IV (1264): Pange lingua (with Tantum ergo), Lauda Sion, Sacris solemniis (with Panis angelicus), Verbum supernum (with O salutaris hostia). Reference Latin liturgical texts (Missal and Liturgy of the Hours). The Adoro te devote, a private Eucharistic prayer, is attributed to him by tradition without belonging to this office.
47 48 50 52 53 54Tradition reported by the first biographers (William of Tocco, Vita sancti Thomae Aquinatis): episode of the Naples crucifix, "Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem accipies?" and answer "Non aliam, Domine, nisi te ipsum". See also Catholic Answers.
55 56The Tablet, "Aquinas relic begins series of anniversaries in Toulouse": thetablet.co.uk. Transfer of the remains to Toulouse in 1369, shelter at Saint-Sernin basilica during the Revolution, return to the Jacobins in 1974 after restoration of the church.
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