St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 in his family’s castle in Lombardy Italy, which is near Naples. His family was a wealthy one; his father was the Count of Aquino. In his early years his parents had him educated by Monks. Subsequently, he attended the University of Naples. Sometime after that he secretly joined the Medicant Dominican Friars in 1224. This group worked for the salvation of souls through preaching and fostering theological study. In an attempt to deprogram, or convert him, his family kidnapped him and held him in captivity. He later escaped, and rejoined his former order in 1245. Following this he studied under Saint Albert the Great from 1245 to 1248, and was later ordained in 1250. He went to Paris to teach theology at the University of Paris. He wrote many works, including commentaries on Aristotle and wrote some bible related works. He later earned his doctorate and taught in many Italian cities. He was appointed regent of studies in Naples in 1272 while working on Summa Theologica. On December 6th 1273 he experienced a divine revelation which so enraptured him that he abandoned the Summa, saying that it and his other writing were so much straw in the wind compared to the reality of the divine glory. He died four months later while en route to the Council of Lyons, overweight and with his health broken by overwork.

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