St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas

 “The Dumb Ox” 

“Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.”1 

The life of St. Thomas is quite, and interesting one filled with adventure and has almost a Disney aspect to it. Thomas was born to a wealthy family who had high expectations of him. His family had many friends in high places, from government officials to the Abbey being the uncle of St. Thomas. 

But like many saints St. Thomas was not interested in any of these, all he wanted was to be left alone with his books. One day he decided to tell his family that he wanted to join the Dominican friars “Domini Canes, The Dogs of God”2, his family objected and said if he truly wanted to join a religious order he would join the Abbey to ensure him a high position within the Church. Thomas refused and fought his parents. 

We know that Thomas wasn't playing the role of a stubborn child wanting to do what is opposite of his parent's wishes but rather an intelligent individual who had achieved many scholarly goals while in school. 

Thomas studied at the best schools in Paris, where he kept to himself and had no real friends. The children in his class referred to him as “the dumb ox”3 because of his size and his shyness. They assumed because of his lack of friends and inability to hold conversations that he was a dumb individual. After some time his professor realized that he was, in fact, the complete opposite. He then challenged Thomas, who was apprehensive of what his professor meant by it. 

In the years to come, Thomas would embark on continuous studies, rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful. A life that any individual at that time would have loved to be part of, yet this was not enough for St. Thomas, he longed for more. His love for books and the things of God were too much for him to ignore.  

As he continued to attempt to pursue his family into allowing him to join the religious order, he began to encounter a stronger front on behalf of his family. At one point they had Thomas sent to a tower where he would stay until he came to his right state of mind. While in the tower, his family went to the extreme and had a prostitute sent into his room which St. Thomas met with a hot fireplace iron and chased her out of the room. He was eventually able to escape from the tower to pursue his goal. 

One of the St. Tomas greatest accomplishments was in the form of Christianizing Aristotle. Something he was criticized for specifically because everyone at the time was very Augustinian which made them extremely Platonic. “ They assumed Aristotle was some crabbed  antiquity and tyranny from the black back of the Dark Ages, and that Plato was an entirely new Pagan pleasure never yet tasted by Christian men.”4 St. Thomas searched for a way to bring the works of Aristotle closer to the Church; he was able to bridge the two.

Some of his greatest works that we hold as treasures are the Summa Theologica and his works on metaphysics. Because of this work, he was able to bring the Church into a new age. An age that would help Catholics be better informed a new knowledge that had previously been untapped. 

To this day we continue to use the work of St. Thomas as a fountain of knowledge guiding us through not only our philosophical and theological studies but also in humility for all things Holy. 

1. Thomas Aquinas

2. Chesterton, G. K. Saint Thomas Aquinas. New York: Image /Doubleday, 2001. Print. Pg. 48

3. Chesterton, G. K. Saint Thomas Aquinas. New York: Image /Doubleday, 2001. Print. Pg.69

4. Chesterton, G. K. Saint Thomas Aquinas. New York: Image /Doubleday, 2001. Print. Pg. 79