Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 7 March 1274)
Thomas Aquinas Is an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a Dominican friar, renowned philosopher and theologian. He is known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalis and Doctor Communis. As contained in the Roman Catholic Church Code of Canon law, Aquinas is regarded as a model for those studying for the Roman Catholic Church priesthood. In modern times, under papal directives, the study of his works is a core required program of study for intending priests or deacons, as well as other religious formation and other students of the sacred disciplines. He is considered by many Roman Catholics to be the Catholic Church’s greatest theologian. He is among the 33 doctors of the church, and is best known for his work ‘Summa theologica’. Other well-known works include: Summa contra Gentiles, and the Disputed Questions on Truth.
Born Tommaso d’Aquino (translated as ‘Thomas of Aquino), Aquino, Italy around the year 1225 to Landulf, a knight, and Theodora. He was the youngest of at least nine children that majorly pursued a military career. His father’s brother, Sinibald, was abbot of one of the oldest Benedictine monastery, Monte Cassino, at the time. And just like his father, his parents had wanted him to join the abbey. Thomas came under the influence of John of St. Julian, a Dominican preacher (whose order was dedicated to preaching and learning) in Naples, and resolved to become a Dominican priest. Joining the order at the age of nineteen, he was assigned to Paris for further study and went after a year as a Dominican friar.
Thomas spent three years in Paris, studying philosophy, and then was sent to Cologne, in 1248, under the supervision of Albert the Great that became his ideal mentor. In 1252, Thomas was, nominated by Albert to pursue an advanced degree in theology at the University of Paris even though he was still two years younger for this honor.
Thomas was a prominent proponent of natural theology and the father of a school of thought (encompassing both theology and philosophy) known as Thomism. He has been described as “the most influential thinker of the medieval period” and “the greatest of the medieval philosopher-theologians”. He 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.
Thomas wrote the Catena aurea (The Golden Chain), and produced works for Pope Urban IV including the liturgy for the newly created feast of Corpus Christi. Some of the hymns that Thomas wrote for the feast of Corpus Christi are still sung today, such as the Pange lingua (with the famous Tantum ergo as penultimate verse), and Panis angelicus. His Eucharistic hymns forms part of the church’s liturgy.
Some notable ideas of Thomas Aquinas include: Natural law, five proof of God’s existence, principle of double effect etc. Thomas asserts that Christians have a duty to distribute with provision to the poorest of society.
On July 18, 1323, Pope John XXII pronounced Aquinas’s sainthood at Avignon. His feast day is 28 January. In 1880, Thomas Aquinas was declared patron saint of all Catholic educational establishments.
Throughout his lifetime, Thomas Aquinas produced various written works, many of which are still being compiled to this day. His most notable book is the unfinished Summa theologica or Summa, meaning theological summary. In it, he seeks to describe the relationship between God and man and to explain how man’s reconciliation with the Divine is made possible at all through Christ. Other notable books include: Contra Gentiles, Questiones disputatae de veritate (Disputed Questions on Truth), Quaestiones quodlibetales (Quodlibetal Questions), and Expositio super librum Boethii De trinitate (Commentary on Boethius’s De trinitate).