St. Thomas Aquinas (1225? - 1274), or Thomas of Aquin was born of noble parents. He was educated partly at Monte Cassino. He has had an immense influence on Western philosophy and Christian theology. He is also known as the "Doctor Angelicus".
St. Thomas' mother wanted him to become Benedictine, even going so far as imprisoning him to stop his joining the Dominicans. His family made various efforts to dissuade him from his vocation. After two years' imprisonment, he was released to the Dominicans and immediately made his vows.
First St. Thomas went to Rome, where he was given a blessing by Pope Innocent IV. Then the Dominican Master General took him to Paris and then to Cologne, where he was placed under the tutelage of St. Albertus Magnus. He also attended the University of Paris, earning a Doctorate in Theology on the same day as St. Bonaventure, October 23, 1257.
The rest of St. Thomas' life was a whirlwind of praying, preaching, teaching, writing, and travelling. He lived and taught in turn at Anagni, Rome, Bologna, Orvieto, Viterbo, Perugia, Paris, and Naples. He turned down two ecclesial positions, the abbacy of Monte Cassino and the Archbishopric of Naples.
On December 6, 1273 St. Thomas had some sort of ecstatic vision during Mass. As a result, he decided that he could no longer write anymore. He said that during the ecstasy, he became privy to secrets that made everything he wrote seem to be of little value.
In 1274, Pope Gregory X summoned St. Thomas to take part in the deliberations at the upcoming Council of Lyons, to be convened on May 1 of that year. He fell ill on the way and died on March 7, 1274.
St. Thomas has seven principal works. First is Quaestiones Disputatae (Disputed Questions), which is a series of essays on topics that have come up frequently in his lectures. In these essays he is free to give a more extended treatment of these topics. Second was Quodlibeta (Various Topics), where he discussed various issues that would arise outside of a formal lecture hall. Third was De Unitate Intellectus Contra Averroistas. This argued against the Averroist notion that there was only one soul for all humans. Fourth was Commentaria in Libros Sententiarum. This, with Summa Contra Gentiles, would be the forerunners of the Summa Theologica. Sixth was three works written at the behest of Pope Urban IV: Opusculum, Contra Errores Graecorum, Officium de Festo Corporis Christi, and the Catena Aurea. Seventh and most important was the Summa Theologica.
St. Thomas' mother wanted him to become Benedictine, even going so far as imprisoning him to stop his joining the Dominicans. His family made various efforts to dissuade him from his vocation. After two years' imprisonment, he was released to the Dominicans and immediately made his vows.
First St. Thomas went to Rome, where he was given a blessing by Pope Innocent IV. Then the Dominican Master General took him to Paris and then to Cologne, where he was placed under the tutelage of St. Albertus Magnus. He also attended the University of Paris, earning a Doctorate in Theology on the same day as St. Bonaventure, October 23, 1257.
The rest of St. Thomas' life was a whirlwind of praying, preaching, teaching, writing, and travelling. He lived and taught in turn at Anagni, Rome, Bologna, Orvieto, Viterbo, Perugia, Paris, and Naples. He turned down two ecclesial positions, the abbacy of Monte Cassino and the Archbishopric of Naples.
On December 6, 1273 St. Thomas had some sort of ecstatic vision during Mass. As a result, he decided that he could no longer write anymore. He said that during the ecstasy, he became privy to secrets that made everything he wrote seem to be of little value.
In 1274, Pope Gregory X summoned St. Thomas to take part in the deliberations at the upcoming Council of Lyons, to be convened on May 1 of that year. He fell ill on the way and died on March 7, 1274.
St. Thomas has seven principal works. First is Quaestiones Disputatae (Disputed Questions), which is a series of essays on topics that have come up frequently in his lectures. In these essays he is free to give a more extended treatment of these topics. Second was Quodlibeta (Various Topics), where he discussed various issues that would arise outside of a formal lecture hall. Third was De Unitate Intellectus Contra Averroistas. This argued against the Averroist notion that there was only one soul for all humans. Fourth was Commentaria in Libros Sententiarum. This, with Summa Contra Gentiles, would be the forerunners of the Summa Theologica. Sixth was three works written at the behest of Pope Urban IV: Opusculum, Contra Errores Graecorum, Officium de Festo Corporis Christi, and the Catena Aurea. Seventh and most important was the Summa Theologica.