Thomas Aquinas Teacher Of The Church
Worship
What Grace They Received
Worship Commemorations For 12 Ancient And Modern Saints
Reader 1: Was it the greatest of centuries for Christianity? Here are just a few names which might convince us of the glory of the 13th century: Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Dominic, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, Dante and Thomas Aquinas.
One of the outstanding achievements of this 13th century was the beginning of a new monastic movement. Led by Saint Dominic and Saint Francis of Assisi, these new friars did not stay within the walls of a wealthy monastery, but rather they traveled the countryside preaching and begging for alms. The great philosopher/theologian Thomas Aquinas eventually became one of these new Dominican monks, but not without a great struggle.
Born in 1224, the youngest son in a noble Italian family, his parents dedicated Thomas to a life of service in the church. But they were thinking along the lines of the more traditional, respectable monasticism -- like the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino -- which was where Thomas began his training at the age of five.
At 14 he continued his studies at the University of Naples. There he became acquainted with several Dominican monks and eventually decided to become one of them. These Dominicans were a new order of wandering teachers and preachers who had an evangelical zeal for the salvation of souls. Thomas Aquinas later described this new kind of monasticism as the best of all: a contemplative life of study and prayer which went beyond the old monasticism because it shared the fruits of that contemplation with others.
But Thomas' family was horrified at his decision. G. K. Chesterton, a British literary figure from our own century, has wittily described their reactions this way:
Reader 2: "It was as if the eldest son of the squire might go home and airily inform the family that he had married a gypsy."
Reader 1: Thomas' brothers took matters into their own hands and kidnapped him and locked him up in a tower room on the family estate. In their attempts to persuade Thomas to leave the Dominican order, they even used a prostitute! Bernard Gui, a 14th-century biographer, tells the story:
Reader 3: "So a lovely but shameless girl, a very viper in human form, was admitted to the room where Thomas was sitting alone, to corrupt his innocence with wanton words and touches. But if she expected a man, she found an angelÉ Chastity and indignation leapt up together. Springing toward the fire that burned in his room, Thomas seized a burning log from it and drove out the temptress, the bearer of the lust's fire. Then, his spirit still aflame, he drew on the wall of the room, with the charred tip of the log, the sign of the holy cross."
Reader 1: Seeing that Thomas was not about to cave into their demands, his family finally relented. Thomas then joined his Dominican brothers in Cologne, where he studied philosophy and theology under another great Dominican, Albertus Magnus. Here Thomas became a part of that 13th-century movement that "rediscovered" Aristotle, the pagan Greek philosopher of the fourth century B.C. These scholars used Aristotle's writing to defend traditional Christian teachings.
Thomas Aquinas was an extremely shy and reserved student, speaking very little in class. He was also very large -- fat, we might say. So his classmates called him "the dumb ox." But one day he dropped some of his notes and a fellow classmate took them to Albertus Magnus, who realized at once what a brilliant student Thomas Aquinas was. So Thomas was invited to defend a certain proposition in class. Here is Bernard Gui's description of the incident;
Reader 3: "After setting out the arguments for and against the thesis, Thomas then proposed a certain distinction as sufficient to solve the problem and answer the objections: whereupon Master Albert said: 'Thomas, you seem to be not only discussing the question -- which is your task -- but deciding it too!' Then he began to press Thomas with many strong and, one might have thought, decisive objections; but to each one Thomas had a sufficient answer. And the story goes that at last Albert exclaimed: 'We call this lad a dumb ox, but I tell you that the whole world is going to hear his bellowing!' "
Reader 1: A definitely prophetic remark! The most important of all of Thomas' writings, his Summa Theologiae, continues to be the only theological work on virtually every list of great books.
At the end of Thomas' student days, he was ordained to the priesthood and became a lecturer and later a professor at the University of Paris. What was it then that this brilliant teacher passed on to his students?
In his reliance upon Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas was reconciling Christianity with reason and with science. Chesterton wrote:
Reader 2: "Saint Thomas was willing to allow the one truth to be approached by two paths, precisely because he was sure there was only one truth. Because the Faith was the one truth, nothing discovered in nature could ultimately contradict the Faith. Because the Faith was the one truth, nothing really deduced from the Faith could ultimately contradict the facts."
Reader 1: Thomas, along with Aristotle, emphasized the importance of the five senses, the human body, the experience of the common person. As Chesterton points out, for too long Christianity had been following Plato with his emphasis on the spirit as opposed to the body. But as Chesterton reminds us, the Body of Christ had hung upon the cross
Reader 2: "É It had risen from a tomb. It was no longer possible for the soul to despise the sensesÉ Plato might despise the flesh; but God had not despised it. The senses had truly become sanctified."
Reader 1: All this, of course, led Thomas to defend the orthodox Christian teaching that God's creation is good. Chesterton again gives us a good summary of Thomas' teaching about creation:
Reader 2: " 'God looked on all things and saw that they were good.' [This] is the thesis that there are no bad things; but only bad uses of things. If you will, there are no bad things, but only bad thoughts; and especially bad intentions."
Reader 1: In all of Thomas' theology there is a strong affirmation of life. Chesterton again:
Reader 2: "The only working word for thatÉ is Optimism. [Thomas] did, with a most solid and colossal conviction, believe in Life; and inÉ the liveableness of lifeÉ If the morbid Renaissance intellectual is supposed to say, 'To be or not to be -- that is the question,' then [Thomas] does most certainly reply in a voice of thunder. 'To be -- that is the answer.' "
Reader 1: Although most of Thomas' writings are theological and philosophical in nature, he did write a liturgy for the Feast of Corpus Christi, a liturgy specifically celebrating the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Thomas had always felt that the Eucharist was the most sublime of all the sacraments. Bernard Gui tells us that Thomas, like every priest, celebrated the mass every day and oftentimesÉ
Reader 1: "É while saying mass he was utterly absorbed by the mystery, and his face ran with tears."
Reader 1: In our own Lutheran Book of Worship we have two hymns written by Thomas Aquinas, both of them Eucharistic hymns: "Of The Glorious Body Telling" and "Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior." (This statement can be changed to fit other denominations.)
If all of this has conveyed something to us about the thought and theology of Thomas Aquinas, what can we say about the man himself? Bernard Gui tells a story which illustrates the humility.
Reader 3: "[Thomas] was in the cloister, walking meditatively around as he was wont to do, when a brother from another priority who did not know him approached and said, 'Good brother, the prior says that you are to come with me.' The prior had in fact given that brother permission to take the first man he should happen to meet as his companion on some business that he had to see to in the city. Thomas bowed his head at once and followed. Now the other was a fast walker, too fast for Thomas, who could not keep up with him and got many hard words in consequence, but each time begged the other's pardon. And this was noticed and wondered at by people in the city; for they recognized the great teacher who was hurrying after that undistinguished friar; and, thinking there must be some mistake, they at last told the latter who his companion was. And he, turning round, then apologized to Thomas, begging him to excuse his ignorance. But Thomas, seeing the people salute him respectfully and hearing them ask why he had let himself be treated in this way, gently pointed out that the way to perfection lies only through obedience; and if God, he said, had humbled himself for our sake, should not we submit to one another for God's sake?"
Reader 1: Thomas' desire was to live simply as a friar. He had no ambitions for higher church office. In fact, he refused several ecclesiastical positions, including that of archbishop of Naples. Once, when his friends jokingly asked him if he would like to be lord of Paris, Thomas replied that he would much rather be able to find a copy of Saint Chrysostum's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew!
As usual, Chesteron very well sums up this attitude of Thomas:
Reader 2: "It is as if Napoleon had insisted on remaining a private soldier all his life."
Reader 1: The stories that tell of Thomas' powers of concentration are legendary. For example, there is the fact that he could dictate to four secretaries at once, each one taking down notes on a different subject. Or there is the amusing story of Thomas being invited to a banquet where he was sitting next to King Louis IX; lost in thought, he was completely oblivious to the conversations around him. All of a sudden, Thomas brought his fist down on the table and shouted: "That will settle the Manichees!" All the time he had been working on an argument to refute the Manichean heresy that the world is evil.
The end of Thomas' life has an element of mystery to it. After saying mass on December 6, 1273, he never wrote another word. When pressed for an explanation, Thomas confided to his secretary: "All that I have written seems to be like so much straw, compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me." He died four months later on March 7, 1274, at the age of 50. He received the Eucharist on his deathbed, and according to his biographer, Bernard Gui, he made the following confession:
Reader 3: "O price of my redemption and food for my pilgrimage, I receive you. For your sake I have studied and toiled and kept vigil. I have preached you and taught you. Never consciously have I said a word against you. But if I should have said or written anything amiss on this sacrament or any of the others, I leave it all to the judgment of the holy Roman Church, in obedience to whom I desire to end my life."
Bibliography
G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas, London: Hodden & Stoughton, 1943.
Bernard Gui, (Translated by Kenelm Foster) The Life of Saint Thomas Aquinas. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1959.
Anthony Kenny, Aquinas. New York: Hill and Wang, 1980.
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
James A. Weisheipl, Friar Thomas D'Aquino: His Life, Thought, and Works, Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1974.
Hymn Of The Day: "Of The Glorious Body Telling" or "Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior" (Both hymns were written by Thomas Aquinas.)
Prayer Of The Day:
Almighty God, your Holy Spirit gives to one the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, and to another the word of faith. We praise you for the gifts of grace imparted to your servant Thomas Aquinas, and we pray that by his teaching we may be led to a fuller knowledge of the truth which we have seen in your son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (LBW, 145, p. 38).
Prayers:
In thanksgiving for Thomas Aquinas, the great teacher of the church, that we may be led by his teaching to praise you for the goodness of creation and to thank you for the even greater goodness of your Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.
One of the outstanding achievements of this 13th century was the beginning of a new monastic movement. Led by Saint Dominic and Saint Francis of Assisi, these new friars did not stay within the walls of a wealthy monastery, but rather they traveled the countryside preaching and begging for alms. The great philosopher/theologian Thomas Aquinas eventually became one of these new Dominican monks, but not without a great struggle.
Born in 1224, the youngest son in a noble Italian family, his parents dedicated Thomas to a life of service in the church. But they were thinking along the lines of the more traditional, respectable monasticism -- like the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino -- which was where Thomas began his training at the age of five.
At 14 he continued his studies at the University of Naples. There he became acquainted with several Dominican monks and eventually decided to become one of them. These Dominicans were a new order of wandering teachers and preachers who had an evangelical zeal for the salvation of souls. Thomas Aquinas later described this new kind of monasticism as the best of all: a contemplative life of study and prayer which went beyond the old monasticism because it shared the fruits of that contemplation with others.
But Thomas' family was horrified at his decision. G. K. Chesterton, a British literary figure from our own century, has wittily described their reactions this way:
Reader 2: "It was as if the eldest son of the squire might go home and airily inform the family that he had married a gypsy."
Reader 1: Thomas' brothers took matters into their own hands and kidnapped him and locked him up in a tower room on the family estate. In their attempts to persuade Thomas to leave the Dominican order, they even used a prostitute! Bernard Gui, a 14th-century biographer, tells the story:
Reader 3: "So a lovely but shameless girl, a very viper in human form, was admitted to the room where Thomas was sitting alone, to corrupt his innocence with wanton words and touches. But if she expected a man, she found an angelÉ Chastity and indignation leapt up together. Springing toward the fire that burned in his room, Thomas seized a burning log from it and drove out the temptress, the bearer of the lust's fire. Then, his spirit still aflame, he drew on the wall of the room, with the charred tip of the log, the sign of the holy cross."
Reader 1: Seeing that Thomas was not about to cave into their demands, his family finally relented. Thomas then joined his Dominican brothers in Cologne, where he studied philosophy and theology under another great Dominican, Albertus Magnus. Here Thomas became a part of that 13th-century movement that "rediscovered" Aristotle, the pagan Greek philosopher of the fourth century B.C. These scholars used Aristotle's writing to defend traditional Christian teachings.
Thomas Aquinas was an extremely shy and reserved student, speaking very little in class. He was also very large -- fat, we might say. So his classmates called him "the dumb ox." But one day he dropped some of his notes and a fellow classmate took them to Albertus Magnus, who realized at once what a brilliant student Thomas Aquinas was. So Thomas was invited to defend a certain proposition in class. Here is Bernard Gui's description of the incident;
Reader 3: "After setting out the arguments for and against the thesis, Thomas then proposed a certain distinction as sufficient to solve the problem and answer the objections: whereupon Master Albert said: 'Thomas, you seem to be not only discussing the question -- which is your task -- but deciding it too!' Then he began to press Thomas with many strong and, one might have thought, decisive objections; but to each one Thomas had a sufficient answer. And the story goes that at last Albert exclaimed: 'We call this lad a dumb ox, but I tell you that the whole world is going to hear his bellowing!' "
Reader 1: A definitely prophetic remark! The most important of all of Thomas' writings, his Summa Theologiae, continues to be the only theological work on virtually every list of great books.
At the end of Thomas' student days, he was ordained to the priesthood and became a lecturer and later a professor at the University of Paris. What was it then that this brilliant teacher passed on to his students?
In his reliance upon Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas was reconciling Christianity with reason and with science. Chesterton wrote:
Reader 2: "Saint Thomas was willing to allow the one truth to be approached by two paths, precisely because he was sure there was only one truth. Because the Faith was the one truth, nothing discovered in nature could ultimately contradict the Faith. Because the Faith was the one truth, nothing really deduced from the Faith could ultimately contradict the facts."
Reader 1: Thomas, along with Aristotle, emphasized the importance of the five senses, the human body, the experience of the common person. As Chesterton points out, for too long Christianity had been following Plato with his emphasis on the spirit as opposed to the body. But as Chesterton reminds us, the Body of Christ had hung upon the cross
Reader 2: "É It had risen from a tomb. It was no longer possible for the soul to despise the sensesÉ Plato might despise the flesh; but God had not despised it. The senses had truly become sanctified."
Reader 1: All this, of course, led Thomas to defend the orthodox Christian teaching that God's creation is good. Chesterton again gives us a good summary of Thomas' teaching about creation:
Reader 2: " 'God looked on all things and saw that they were good.' [This] is the thesis that there are no bad things; but only bad uses of things. If you will, there are no bad things, but only bad thoughts; and especially bad intentions."
Reader 1: In all of Thomas' theology there is a strong affirmation of life. Chesterton again:
Reader 2: "The only working word for thatÉ is Optimism. [Thomas] did, with a most solid and colossal conviction, believe in Life; and inÉ the liveableness of lifeÉ If the morbid Renaissance intellectual is supposed to say, 'To be or not to be -- that is the question,' then [Thomas] does most certainly reply in a voice of thunder. 'To be -- that is the answer.' "
Reader 1: Although most of Thomas' writings are theological and philosophical in nature, he did write a liturgy for the Feast of Corpus Christi, a liturgy specifically celebrating the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Thomas had always felt that the Eucharist was the most sublime of all the sacraments. Bernard Gui tells us that Thomas, like every priest, celebrated the mass every day and oftentimesÉ
Reader 1: "É while saying mass he was utterly absorbed by the mystery, and his face ran with tears."
Reader 1: In our own Lutheran Book of Worship we have two hymns written by Thomas Aquinas, both of them Eucharistic hymns: "Of The Glorious Body Telling" and "Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior." (This statement can be changed to fit other denominations.)
If all of this has conveyed something to us about the thought and theology of Thomas Aquinas, what can we say about the man himself? Bernard Gui tells a story which illustrates the humility.
Reader 3: "[Thomas] was in the cloister, walking meditatively around as he was wont to do, when a brother from another priority who did not know him approached and said, 'Good brother, the prior says that you are to come with me.' The prior had in fact given that brother permission to take the first man he should happen to meet as his companion on some business that he had to see to in the city. Thomas bowed his head at once and followed. Now the other was a fast walker, too fast for Thomas, who could not keep up with him and got many hard words in consequence, but each time begged the other's pardon. And this was noticed and wondered at by people in the city; for they recognized the great teacher who was hurrying after that undistinguished friar; and, thinking there must be some mistake, they at last told the latter who his companion was. And he, turning round, then apologized to Thomas, begging him to excuse his ignorance. But Thomas, seeing the people salute him respectfully and hearing them ask why he had let himself be treated in this way, gently pointed out that the way to perfection lies only through obedience; and if God, he said, had humbled himself for our sake, should not we submit to one another for God's sake?"
Reader 1: Thomas' desire was to live simply as a friar. He had no ambitions for higher church office. In fact, he refused several ecclesiastical positions, including that of archbishop of Naples. Once, when his friends jokingly asked him if he would like to be lord of Paris, Thomas replied that he would much rather be able to find a copy of Saint Chrysostum's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew!
As usual, Chesteron very well sums up this attitude of Thomas:
Reader 2: "It is as if Napoleon had insisted on remaining a private soldier all his life."
Reader 1: The stories that tell of Thomas' powers of concentration are legendary. For example, there is the fact that he could dictate to four secretaries at once, each one taking down notes on a different subject. Or there is the amusing story of Thomas being invited to a banquet where he was sitting next to King Louis IX; lost in thought, he was completely oblivious to the conversations around him. All of a sudden, Thomas brought his fist down on the table and shouted: "That will settle the Manichees!" All the time he had been working on an argument to refute the Manichean heresy that the world is evil.
The end of Thomas' life has an element of mystery to it. After saying mass on December 6, 1273, he never wrote another word. When pressed for an explanation, Thomas confided to his secretary: "All that I have written seems to be like so much straw, compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me." He died four months later on March 7, 1274, at the age of 50. He received the Eucharist on his deathbed, and according to his biographer, Bernard Gui, he made the following confession:
Reader 3: "O price of my redemption and food for my pilgrimage, I receive you. For your sake I have studied and toiled and kept vigil. I have preached you and taught you. Never consciously have I said a word against you. But if I should have said or written anything amiss on this sacrament or any of the others, I leave it all to the judgment of the holy Roman Church, in obedience to whom I desire to end my life."
Bibliography
G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas, London: Hodden & Stoughton, 1943.
Bernard Gui, (Translated by Kenelm Foster) The Life of Saint Thomas Aquinas. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1959.
Anthony Kenny, Aquinas. New York: Hill and Wang, 1980.
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
James A. Weisheipl, Friar Thomas D'Aquino: His Life, Thought, and Works, Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1974.
Hymn Of The Day: "Of The Glorious Body Telling" or "Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior" (Both hymns were written by Thomas Aquinas.)
Prayer Of The Day:
Almighty God, your Holy Spirit gives to one the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, and to another the word of faith. We praise you for the gifts of grace imparted to your servant Thomas Aquinas, and we pray that by his teaching we may be led to a fuller knowledge of the truth which we have seen in your son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (LBW, 145, p. 38).
Prayers:
In thanksgiving for Thomas Aquinas, the great teacher of the church, that we may be led by his teaching to praise you for the goodness of creation and to thank you for the even greater goodness of your Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.
