Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Doctor and Prince of Scholastic Theology

January 28

c. AD 1225 — AD 1274

Order of Preachers (Dominican)

Historically Documented

I. Overview & The Angelic Doctor

Saint Thomas Aquinas, known as the "Angelic Doctor" (Doctor Angelicus) and "Universal Doctor" (Doctor Universalis), stands as the supreme master of Scholastic theology and philosophy. A friar of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), Thomas achieved a sublime synthesis between natural reason and divine revelation, demonstrating that authentic philosophy and Catholic dogma can never contradict one another, since both originate from the uncreated God of Truth.

II. Early Life, Family Opposition & Dominican Vocation

Thomas was born in 1225 AD at the castle of Roccasecca near Aquino in the Kingdom of Naples, the youngest son of Landulf, Count of Aquino. At age five, he was entrusted as an oblate to the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino, where he amazed his teachers by asking: "What is God?"

After continuing his studies in liberal arts and philosophy at the University of Naples, Thomas encountered the newly founded Order of Preachers. Drawn to their evangelical poverty and intellectual apostolate, he received the Dominican habit in 1244 AD. His aristocratic family, outraged by his choice of a mendicant order, kidnapped Thomas on his journey to Paris and imprisoned him in the family fortress at San Giovanni for over a year. When his brothers sent a courtesan to tempt his chastity, Thomas drove her from his room with a flaming brand from the hearth, after which angels girded him with a cord of perpetual purity.

III. Paris, Cologne & Student under Saint Albert the Great

Released by his family, Thomas traveled to Paris and Cologne to study under Saint Albert the Great (Doctor Universalis). Because of his massive frame and quiet, humble demeanor, fellow students dubbed him the "Dumb Ox of Sicily." Saint Albert famously declared: