Triumph of St
Thomas Aquinas over the Heretics by Filippino Lippi
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
The
Liturgical Year
Abbot
Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.
The saint we are to honour today is one of the sublimest
and most lucid interpreters of divine truth. He rose up in the Church many centuries after the apostolic age, nay, long after the four great Latin
doctors, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory. The Church, the ever young
and joyful mother, is justly proud of her Thomas, and has honoured him with the
splendid title of the angelical doctor, on account of the extraordinary gift of
understanding wherewith God had blessed him; just as his contemporary and
friend, St. Bonaventure, has been called the seraphic doctor, on account of the
wonderful unction which abounds in the writings of this worthy disciple of St.
Francis. Thomas of Aquinas is an honour to mankind, for perhaps there never
existed a man whose intellect surpassed his. He is one of the brightest
ornaments of the Church, for not one of her doctors has equaled him in the clearness
and precision wherewith he has explained her doctrines. He received the thanks
of Christ Himself, for having well written of Him and His mysteries. How welcome
ought this feast of such a saint to be to us during this season of the year, when
our main study is our return and conversion to God! What greater blessing could
we have than to come to the knowledge of God? Has not our ignorance of God, of
His claims, and of His perfections, been the greatest misery of our past lives?
Here we have a saint whose prayers are most efficacious in procuring for us that
knowledge, which is unspotted, and converteth souls, and giveth wisdom to
little ones, and gladdeneth the heart, and enlighteneth the eyes. Happy we if
this spiritual wisdom be granted us! We shall then see the vanity of everything
that is not eternal, the righteousness of the divine commandments, the malice
of sin, and the infinite goodness where with God treats us when we repent.
Let us learn
from the Church the claims of the angelical doctor to our admiration and
confidence.
The distinguished ornament of the Christian world and
light of the Church, the most blessed man Thomas, was born of noble parents,
his father being Landulph, Count of Aquino, and his mother a rich Neapolitan
lady, by name Theodora. While yet an infant he gave proof of his future
devotion towards the Mother of God; for having found a leaflet on which was written
the angelical salutation, he clenched it so fast that the nurse tried in vain
to take it from his hand. His mother, however, having forced it from him, the
child succeeded by tears and signs, in recovering the paper, which he
immediately swallowed. When he was five years old he was sent to Monte Cassino,
that he might receive from the Benedictine monks his first training. Thence he was sent to Naples, where he went through a
course of studies, and, young as he was, joined the Order of Friars Preachers.
This step caused great displeasure to his mother and brothers, and it was
therefore deemed advisable to send him to Paris. He was waylaid by his
brothers, who seized him, and imprisoned him in the castle of Saint John. After
having made several unsuccessful attempts to induce him to abandon the holy
life he had chosen, they assailed his purity, by sending to him a wicked woman:
but he drove her from his chamber with a firebrand. The young saint then threw
himself on his knees before a crucifix. Having prayed some time, he fell asleep,
and it seemed to him that two angels approached him, and tightly girded his loins.
From that time forward, he never suffered the slightest feeling against purity.
His sisters also had come to the castle, and tried to make him change his mind;
but he, on the contrary, persuaded them to despise the world, and devote
themselves to the exercise of a holy life. It was
contrived that he should escape through a window of the castle, and return to
Naples. He was thence taken by John the Teutonic, the General of the Dominican
Order, first to Rome and then to Paris, in which latter city he was taught
philosophy and theology by Albert the Great. At the age of twenty-five, he
received the title of doctor, and explained in the public schools, and in a
manner that made him the object of universal admiration, the writings of philosophers
and theologians. He always applied himself to prayer, before reading or writing
anything. When he met with any difficult passage in the sacred Scriptures, he
both fasted and prayed. He used often to say to his companion, Brother
Reginald, that if he knew anything, it was more a gift from God, than the fruit
of his own study and labour. One day, when at Naples, as he was praying with
more than his usual fervor, before a crucifix, he heard these words: ‘Well hast
thou written of me, Thomas! What reward wouldst thou have me give thee?’ He
answered: ‘None other, Lord, than thyself.’
His
favourite spiritual book was the Conferences of the Fathers, and there was not
a book which he had not most carefully read. His writings are so extraordinary,
not only for their number and variety, but also for their clearness in
explaining difficult points of doctrine, that his copious and sound teaching, so
wonderfully consonant with revealed truth, is most apt for utterly refuting the
errors of all ages. Being called to Rome by Pope Urban IV., he composed, at his
command, the ecclesiastical Office for the solemnity of Corpus Christi; but he
refused to accept any honours, as likewise the archbishopric of Naples offered
to him by Pope Clement IV. He was most zealous in preaching the word of God. On
one occasion, during Easter week, as he was preaching in the church of St.
Peter, a woman touched the hem of his habit, and was cured of an issue of
blood. He was sent by Gregory X. to the Council of Lyons; but having reached
Fossa Nova, he fell sick, and was received as a guest in the monastery of that
place, where he wrote a commentary on the Canticle of Canticles. There he died
in the fiftieth year of his age, in the year of our Lord 1274 on the Nones of
March (March 7). His sanctity was made manifest after his death, by miracles:
which being proved, he was canonized by Pope John XXII. in the year 1323. His
body was translated to Toulouse by command of blessed Urban V. Being comparable
to the angels, no less by his innocence than by his genius, he has received the
title of angelical doctor, confirmed to him by the authority of St. Pius V. Pope
Leo XIII. joyfully acceding to the desires and petitions of the bishops of the
Catholic world, by a decree of the sacred Congregation of rites and by letters
apostolic, ordained and declared him the heavenly patron of all Catholic schools;
and this especially for the purpose of repelling the evil of so many
philosophical systems abandoned to error, for the increase of knowledge, and
for the common utility of mankind.
St. Thomas
Aquinas kneeling and offering his works to the Roman Catholic Church
How shall
we worthily praise thee, most holy Doctor! How shall we thank thee for what
thou hast taught us? The rays of the divine Sun of justice beamed strongly upon
thee, and thou hast reflected them upon us. When we picture thee contemplating
truth, we think of those words of our Lord: Blessed are the clean of heart, for
they shall see God. Thy victory over the concupiscence of the flesh merited for
thee the highest spiritual delights; and our Redeemer chose thee, because of the
purity of thy angelic soul, to compose for His Church the Office whereby she
should celebrate the divine Sacrament of His love. Learning did not impair thy
humility. Prayer was ever thy guide in thy search after truth; and there was
but one reward for which, after all thy labours, thou wast ambitious, the
possession of God.
Thy life,
alas was short. The very master-piece of thy angelical writings was left
unfinished. But thou hast not lost thy power of working for the Church. Aid her
in her combats against error. She holds thy teachings in the highest estimation
because she feels that none of her saints has ever known so well as thou, the
secrets and mysteries of her divine Spouse. Now, perhaps more than in any other
age, truths are decayed among the children of men; strengthen us in our faith,
get us light. Check the conceit of those shallow self-constituted philosophers,
who dare to sit in judgment on the actions and decisions of the Church, and to
force their contemptible theories upon a generation that is too ill-instructed
to detect their fallacies. The atmosphere around us is gloomy with ignorance; loose
principles, and truths spoilt by cowardly compromise, are the fashion of our
times; pray for us; bring us back to that hold and simple acceptance of truth,
which gives life to the intellect and joy to the heart.
Pray, too,
for the grand Order which loves thee so devoutly, and honours thee as one of
the most illustrious of its many glorious children. Draw down upon the family
of thy patriarch St. Dominic the choicest blessings, for it is one of the most powerful
auxiliaries of God’s Church.
We are on
the eve of the holy season of Lent, preparing for the great work of earnest
conversion of our lives. Thy prayers must gain for us the knowledge both of the
God we have offended by our sins, and of the wretched state of a soul that is
at enmity with its Maker. Knowing this, we shall hate our sins; we shall desire
to purify our souls in the Blood of the spotless Lamb; we shall generously atone
for our faults by works of penance.
