St Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1226. He was the son of Landulph, Count of Aquino. Even at an early age, his teachers were surprised, for he surpassed all his fellow pupils in learning as well as in the practice of virtue.

When he was old enough to choose his own way of life, St Thomas Aquinas renounced his worldly item and resolved to enter the Order of St. Dominic, in spite of the opposition of family. St Thomas Aquinas joined the Dominicans of Naples at the age of seventeen. Some members of his family tried to lure him away from his calling, even to the extent of sending an impure woman to tempt him. All their efforts were in vain, St Thomas Aquinas perserved his vocation. As a reward to his fidelity, God conferred upon him the gift of perfect chastity. This is why St Thomas Aquinas has the title of the Angelic Doctor.

St. Thomas Aquinas studied under St. Albert the Great in Cologne. Here he was nicknamesd the "Dumb Ox" because of his silent ways and huge size, but he really was a brilliant student. Eventually he taught in Cologne and it was at about the same time he began to publish his first work.

As a priest, St Thomas Aquinas was sent to Paris. There he received his doctorate. In Paris, he became friends with St. Louis, King of France. Later Pope Urban IV called St Thomas Aquinas to Rome to teach.

St Thomas Aquinas not only teached, but he continued writing. His writings fill twenty hefty tomes characterized by brilliance of thought and lucidity of language. He left the great monument of his learning , the Summa Theologica, unfinished. St Thomas Aquinas died before he could finish it in 1274.