The Angelic Doctor

Today’s saint of the day is one of the church’s greatest theologians and a Doctor of the Church: St. Thomas Aquinas. It would be hard to overstate his impact on both the Church and the world.

St. Thomas was born in Italy in 1225. When he was 19 years old, he entered the newly formed Dominican order, but his mother was so upset she had his brothers kidnap him and bring him back home where she locked him in a tower for over a year to keep him from going back. St. Thomas made good use of this time, though, and memorized the entire bible. While in the tower, his family tried whatever they could to keep him from returning to the Dominicans, with his brothers going so far as trying to tempt him with a prostitute.

St. Thomas refused to sin and after that God gave him a special grace of chastity so that he never experienced any lustful temptations. St. Thomas later told one of his confessors that God also kept him from ever experiencing any prideful thoughts. God granted him these special graces so that he would be able to be an incredible theologian. As St. Thomas says, nothing darkens the intellect as much as pride and sins of impurity.

Rejoined

Shortly after his brothers’ attack on him, he rejoined the Dominican Order and began studying for the priesthood. He was so intelligent, though, and knew more than the other students and professors so he stayed quiet in class out of humility. Because of this, other students began calling him the “dumb ox.” When his professor, St. Albert, heard this, he remarked “You call him a Dumb Ox; I tell you this Dumb Ox shall bellow so loud that his bellowings will fill the world.”

When he was composing his many books and commentaries, he was able to think so fast that he used to dictate to four different scribes at the same time on four different topics. Whenever he was having trouble understanding something, he would pray for light. One of the times when he was praying for light on his commentary on Isaiah, St. Peter and St. Paul appeared to him and told him what the scripture passage meant. Our Lord also appeared to him three different times to confirm he was writing accurately.

Domine, non nisi Te

Shortly before St. Thomas died, he was praying in the chapel of his priory when one of his Dominican brothers, Brother Dominic, hid himself to watch St. Thomas pray. While watching him, the crucifix started speaking to Thomas and said “You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward will you receive from me for your labor?” St. Thomas replied “Domine, non nisi Te,” which means “Lord, nothing except you.” This beautiful response to Our Lord is the summary of the Christian life. May we all be able to tell Christ that all we want is Him! St. Thomas died shortly after this in 1274. He was canonized in 1323, and later declared the Angelic Doctor by Pope St. Pius V.

St. Thomas is an incredible testament to the importance of both studying and being formed in the faith as well as having a deep life of prayer. Of course, St. Thomas studied a lot, but in a conversation to St. Bonaventure, he said his greatest source of knowledge was not books, but the Crucifix. You cannot truly love what you do not know. By growing in knowledge of God, you will also grow in love for Him as you start to see more clearly who He is. Devoting time to studying the scriptures, Church teachings, virtue, and the moral life is essential to grow your relationship with God, as well as to be able to evangelize others! This knowledge, though, will not transform us if we do not do daily prayer. Pray to St. Thomas for the grace to study well and persevere in prayer!

[Readings: Dt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28]