Today, January 28, is the memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Thomas Aquinas was born in their family’s castle in Roccasecca, Central Italy in 1225. His family was the very wealthy and most powerful of the time.
He went to the famed Benedictine monastery Monte Cassino where his uncle Sinibald was the abbot. In those times, it was expected that a younger son of the nobility, in this case Thomas, should succeed his abbot-uncle.
To his family’s displeasure, Thomas secretly joined the mendicant Dominican Order or Order of Preachers when he was 19. His mother Theodora instructed his brothers to kidnap and imprison him so as to force Thomas to change his mind. His brothers hired a prostitute to seduce him, but he drove her away with a fire iron. Then two angels appeared to him and fortified his desire to stay celibate by gifting him with a mystical belt of purity. He rejoined the Dominicans a year later.
He went on to study in Paris, France and onto Cologne, Germany with St. Albert the Great as his mentor. His classmates called him “Dumb Ox” because he was a big person and had a slow speech. St. Albert the Great defended him, “You call him Dumb Ox, but his bellowing in doctrine will someday resound throughout the world.”
He was ordained in 1250 and taught Theology in Paris. He was a tireless writer: defenses of the mendicant orders, commentaries on Aristotle and Lombard’s Sentences, and some bible-related works, usually by dictating to secretaries. He won his doctorate, and taught in several Italian cities. He was appointed regent of studies in Naples while working on the “Summa Theologica.”
In 1273, it is said, the sacristan Domenic of Caserta saw Thomas levitating and praying in tears before the Crucified Christ who asked Thomas, “You have written well of me. What reward would you have for your labor?” Thomas replied, “Nothing but you, Lord.”
That same year, Thomas went through a very long ecstasy. After seeing what he saw in the vision, Thomas stopped writing the “Summa Theologica.” Thomas explained that the “Summa” and his other writings were seemed like straw in the wind compared to the reality of the Divine Glory. His works became very important to the thinking of the Church.
He died months later between the ages of 48-49. He was canonized in 1323 by Pope John XXII. He was proclaimed Doctor of the Church (Angelic Doctor and Common Doctor) in 1567 by Pope St. Pius V.