Thread by @MedievalScholar

St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th-century Dominican friar and theologian.

Renowned for synthesizing Christian doctrine, he is hailed as the most influential thinker of the Middle Ages and the greatest Medieval theologian ever.

This is his story 🧵

Thomas Aquinas was born around 1225 in Roccasecca, near Aquino, which was part of the Kingdom of Sicily at the time.

His father, Landulf of Aquino, was a knight serving Emperor Frederick II, and his family held considerable influence.

Thomas's uncle, Sinibald, was the abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, and his family intended for him to follow a similar ecclesiastical path.

At age five, Thomas began his education at Monte Cassino, but political conflict between the emperor and the pope disrupted his studies.

He was then sent to the university in Naples, where he studied under teachers like Petrus de Ibernia and was introduced to the works of Aristotle, Averroes, and Maimonides.

At nineteen, Thomas decided to join the Dominicans, but his family strongly opposed this.

His mother, Theodora, instructed his brothers to intercept him en route to Rome and bring him back to the family’s castle.

He was detained for nearly a year, during which his family attempted various means to dissuade him, including hiring a prostitute, but Thomas remained steadfast, even resisting temptation through an episode of mystical ecstasy.

Seeing that Thomas was unwavering, his mother eventually arranged for him to escape discreetly to avoid further family dishonor.

He was sent to Naples and later to Rome, where he met Johannes von Wildeshausen, the Master General of the Dominican Order, and finally committed to his calling.

In 1245, Thomas Aquinas was sent to study at the University of Paris, where he likely met the Dominican scholar Albertus Magnus, who held a chair of theology.

When Albertus was assigned to teach at a new school in Cologne in 1248, Thomas followed him. Despite being offered the abbacy of Monte Cassino by Pope Innocent IV, Thomas declined to remain committed to the Dominican Order.

At Cologne, Albertus appointed Thomas as "magister studentium" (master of students), a role he accepted reluctantly. Thomas’s quiet demeanor led some peers to underestimate him.

Thomas taught as an apprentice professor in Cologne, delivering lectures on the Old Testament and writing commentaries on Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations.

In 1252, he returned to Paris to pursue a master's degree in theology, lecturing on the Bible and Peter Lombard's Sentences, producing a commentary called Scriptum super libros Sententiarium.

For his fellow Dominicans, he also wrote De ente et essentia (On Being and Essence), exploring metaphysical concepts central to his philosophy.

Appointed regent master in theology at Paris in 1256, Thomas defended the mendicant orders in his work Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem, which countered criticisms from figures like William of Saint-Amour.

Between 1256 and 1259, he produced numerous influential works, including Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate (Disputed Questions on Truth) and Quaestiones quodlibetales (Quodlibetal Questions), addressing diverse theological issues.

He also wrote commentaries on Boethius's De trinitate and De hebdomadibus. By the end of his tenure, Thomas was beginning work on his renowned Summa contra Gentiles.

In 1259, Thomas Aquinas concluded his first teaching period at the University of Paris, allowing other Dominicans to gain teaching experience.

He returned to Naples and was appointed general preacher in 1260. The following year, he was called to Orvieto to serve as conventual lector, overseeing the pastoral education of friars who could not attend a larger school.

While in Orvieto, Thomas completed Summa contra Gentiles and composed Catena aurea (The Golden Chain).

For Pope Urban IV, he wrote the liturgy for the newly instituted feast of Corpus Christi, producing hymns like Pange lingua and Panis angelicus, which are still sung today.

In 1265, Pope Clement IV summoned Thomas to Rome as a papal theologian.

That same year, Thomas began teaching at Santa Sabina’s new studium provinciale, the first advanced school for the Roman Province of the Dominican Order.

Here, he taught a full curriculum of moral and natural philosophy. While at Santa Sabina, he began his Summa Theologiae, intended as an accessible work for beginners in theology, along with other writings, including Compendium Theologiae and De potentia.

Among his students at Santa Sabina were notable scholars like Nicholas Brunacci and Blessed Tommasello da Perugia.

Thomas remained there until 1268, when he was recalled to Paris for a second teaching regency.

His departure marked a transition, as the Santa Sabina studium’s theological instruction was later moved to Santa Maria sopra Minerva. This convent eventually developed into the College of Saint Thomas, which in the 20th century became the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, or the Angelicum.

In 1268, Thomas Aquinas was reassigned by the Dominican Order as regent master at the University of Paris, a position he held until 1272.

This second regency was motivated in part by the rise of "Averroism" or "radical Aristotelianism" in the universities, which some viewed as a threat to Christian doctrine.

In response, Thomas authored works such as De unitate intellectus, contra Averroistas (On the Unity of Intellect, Against the Averroists), where he argued that Averroism was incompatible with Christian beliefs.

During this period, Thomas completed the second part of his Summa Theologiae and wrote works like De virtutibus (On Virtues) and De aeternitate mundi, contra murmurantes (On the Eternity of the World, Against Grumblers).

The latter addressed the controversial Averroist and Aristotelian notion of an eternal, beginningless world, which clashed with Christian doctrine.

Thomas’s second regency was marked by disputes, especially with Franciscan scholars. Prior to his return to Paris, Franciscan master William of Baglione had accused Thomas of promoting Averroism.

Eleonore Stump notes that De aeternitate mundi may have specifically targeted Thomas’s Franciscan colleague John Pecham, with whom he often disagreed.

Thomas grew increasingly disturbed by the spread of Averroistic interpretations, particularly as taught by figures like Siger of Brabant.

On December 10, 1270, Bishop Étienne Tempier of Paris condemned thirteen Aristotelian and Averroistic propositions, excommunicating their supporters.

In an effort to counter fears about Aristotelianism, Thomas conducted disputations from 1270 to 1272 on topics such as virtues and hope, aiming to reconcile philosophy with Christian theology.

In 1272, Thomas Aquinas left the University of Paris when the Dominicans from his home province asked him to establish a studium generale wherever he wished.

He chose Naples, where he took on the role of regent master. While in Naples, Thomas worked on the third part of the Summa Theologica and gave popular Lenten sermons on the Commandments, Creed, Our Father, and Hail Mary.

Thomas was believed to have had mystical experiences, including instances of levitation. One well-known account comes from 1273, when he was seen by a sacristan, Domenic of Caserta, levitating in prayer at the Dominican convent of Naples.

During this experience, he reportedly conversed with Christ, who asked Thomas what reward he desired for his labors, to which Thomas replied, "Nothing but you, Lord."

In 1274, Pope Gregory X summoned Thomas to the Second Council of Lyon, aiming to mend the East-West Schism. En route, Thomas suffered an accident, hitting his head on a tree branch.

His health deteriorated, and he was taken to Monte Cassino, then later to Fossanova Abbey, where he was nursed by the monks. There, he passed away on March 7, 1274, having submitted all his writings to the judgment of the Church and reportedly praying over the sacraments.

His last words were a reflection on the sacredness of the Eucharist.

By the 1300s, the theological influence of Thomas Aquinas began to flourish.

In Dante's Divine Comedy, completed around 1321, Thomas appears among the exalted souls in the Heaven of the Sun, revered as a model of religious wisdom.

At Thomas's canonization process, when critics objected to his lack of traditional miracles, a cardinal famously remarked, “Tot miraculis, quot articulis” — “there are as many miracles in his life as articles in his Summa.”

On July 18, 1323, Pope John XXII, residing in Avignon, formally declared Thomas a saint.

His remains, originally housed at Fossanova, were moved to the Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse in 1369 and later transferred to the Basilica of Saint-Sernin. In 1974, his relics were returned to the Church of the Jacobins, where they remain today.