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Saint Thomas Aquinas
Lives of the Saints
by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. edition
[1894]
—ST. THOMAS AQUINAS.
- THOMAS was born of noble parents at Aquino in Italy, in 1226. At the age of nineteen he received the Dominican habit at Naples, where he was studying. Seized by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered a two years’ captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation.
While St. Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his chamber the wretched creature whom they had there concealed. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in ecstasy, an angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that St. Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. But he never told this grace to any one save only to Father Raynald, his confessor, a little while before his death.
Hence originated the Confraternity of the “Angelic Warfare,” for the preservation of the virtue of chastity. Having at length escaped, St. Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the Great, and after that to Paris, where for many years he taught philosophy and theology.
The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor she has indicated that his science is more divine than human.
The rarest gifts of intellect were combined in him with the tenderest piety. Prayer, he said, had taught him more than study. His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament shines forth in the Office and hymns for Corpus Christi, which he composed. To the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, “Well hast thou written concerning Me, Thomas. What shall I give thee as a reward?” he replied, “Naught save Thyself, O Lord.” He died at Fossa-Nuova, 1274, on his way to the General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X. had summoned him.
Reflection.—The knowledge of God is for all, but hidden treasures are reserved for those who have ever followed the Lamb.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church Memorial Heb 11:1-2, 8-19/Mk 4:35-41 (322).
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/thomas-aquinas-785
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
*St. Thomas Aquinas – Risueño.
This is a portrait of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, depicted with angel’s wings, being inspired by the Holy Ghost to write of theological truths. St. Thomas Aquinas is the Patron Saint of Education, Universities, and Schools. Artwork by Risueño.
**Thomas Aquinas, OP (/əˈkwaɪnəs/; Italian: Tommaso d’Aquino, lit. ‘Thomas of Aquino‘; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, who was an immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known within the scholastic 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. Among other things, he was a prominent proponent of natural theology and 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. Unlike many currents in the Catholic Church of the time, Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle—whom he called “the Philosopher”—and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Ps 32:8