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Learn about the life, works and legacy of Thomas Aquinas, a medieval philosopher and theologian who synthesized Aristotelianism and Christianity. Find out his titles, influences, achievements, and contributions to scholasticism and Thomism.
- Overview
- Early years
- Studies in Paris
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St. Thomas Aquinas was a member of the Roman Catholic Church.
What was St. Thomas Aquinas’s childhood like?
St. Thomas Aquinas spent most of his childhood in the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, where his parents placed him as a prospective monk when he was about five years old. Nine years later he entered the University of Naples, becoming acquainted there with the Dominican order, which he joined when he was about 20.
What did St. Thomas Aquinas write?
St. Thomas Aquinas’s best-known works, all written in Latin, included the theological treatises Summa contra gentiles (c. 1258–64) and Summa theologiae (1265/66–73, left incomplete at his death); commentaries on Aristotle’s De anima (On the Soul) and Nichomachean Ethics; and philosophical works such as De ente et essentia (before 1256; Being and Essence).
Why is St. Thomas Aquinas important?
Thomas was born to parents who were in possession of a modest feudal domain on a boundary constantly disputed by the emperor and the pope. His father was of Lombard origin; his mother was of the later invading Norman heritage. His people were distinguished in the service of Emperor Frederick II during the civil strife in southern Italy between the ...
Thomas held out stubbornly against his family despite a year of captivity. He was finally liberated and in the autumn of 1245 went to Paris to the convent of Saint-Jacques, the great university centre of the Dominicans; there he studied under St. Albertus Magnus, a tremendous scholar with a wide range of intellectual interests.
Escape from the feudal world, rapid commitment to the University of Paris, and religious vocation to one of the new mendicant orders all meant a great deal in a world in which faith in the traditional institutional and conceptual structure was being attacked. The encounter between the gospel and the culture of his time formed the nerve centre of Thomas’s position and directed its development. Normally, his work is presented as the integration into Christian thought of the recently discovered Aristotelian philosophy, in competition with the integration of Platonic thought effected by the Fathers of the Church during the first 12 centuries of the Christian Era. This view is essentially correct; more radically, however, it should also be asserted that Thomas’s work accomplished an evangelical awakening to the need for a cultural and spiritual renewal not only in the lives of individual men but also throughout the church. Thomas must be understood in his context as a mendicant religious, influenced both by the evangelism of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, and by the devotion to scholarship of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican order.
Britannica Quiz
Philosophy 101
When Thomas Aquinas arrived at the University of Paris, the influx of Arabian-Aristotelian science was arousing a sharp reaction among believers, and several times the church authorities tried to block the naturalism and rationalism that were emanating from this philosophy and, according to many ecclesiastics, seducing the younger generations. Thomas did not fear these new ideas, but, like his master Albertus Magnus (and Roger Bacon, also lecturing at Paris), he studied the works of Aristotle and eventually lectured publicly on them.
For the first time in history, Christian believers and theologians were confronted with the rigorous demands of scientific rationalism. At the same time, technical progress was requiring men to move from the rudimentary economy of an agrarian society to an urban society with production organized in trade guilds, with a market economy, and with a profound feeling of community. New generations of men and women, including clerics, were reacting against the traditional notion of contempt for the world and were striving for mastery over the forces of nature through the use of their reason. The structure of Aristotle’s philosophy emphasized the primacy of the intelligence. Technology itself became a means of access to truth; mechanical arts were powers for humanizing the cosmos. Thus, the dispute over the reality of universals—i.e., the question about the relation between general words such as “red” and particulars such as “this red object”—which had dominated early Scholastic philosophy, was left behind, and a coherent metaphysics of knowledge and of the world was being developed.
Learn about the life, works, and legacy of St. Thomas Aquinas, the foremost medieval Scholastic and theologian. Explore his synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy and Christian faith, his masterpieces Summa theologiae and Summa contra gentiles, and his influence on Thomism.
- Marie-Dominique Chenu
Aug 9, 2023 · Italian Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas was one of the most influential medieval thinkers of Scholasticism and the father of the Thomistic school of theology.
Dec 7, 2022 · Between antiquity and modernity stands Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225–1274). The greatest figure of thirteenth-century Europe in the two preeminent sciences of the era, philosophy and theology, he epitomizes the scholastic method of the newly founded universities. Like Dante or Michelangelo, Aquinas takes inspiration from antiquity, especially ...
- Ralph McInerny, John O'Callaghan
- 1999
Feastday: January 28. Patron: of students and all universities. Birth: 1226. Death: 1274. Canonized: Pope John XXII in 1323. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online. Printable PDF of St. Thomas Aquinas. Shop St. Thomas Aquinas.
A comprehensive overview of the life, works, and philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest and Scriptural theologian who integrated Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology. Learn about his arguments for God's existence, his ethics, his political philosophy, and his influence on Western civilization.
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Apr 13, 2021 · Learn about the life and legacy of Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Dominican friar, theologian, and philosopher who sought to reconcile faith and reason. Explore his writings, his controversies, and his influence on Western thought.
