Thomas was born of noble parents, his father being Landulph, Count of Aquino, and his mother a rich Neapolitan lady called Theodora. When he was five years old he was sent to Monte Cassino that he might receive his first training from the Benedictine monks. Thence he was sent to Naples where he went through a course of studies and, young as he was, joined the Order of Friars Preachers. This step caused great displeasure to his mother and brothers, and it was therefore deemed advisable to send him to Paris. Thomas was waylaid by his brothers who seized him and imprisoned him in the castle of Saint John. After having made several unsuccessful attempts to induce him to abandon the holy life he had chosen, they assailed his purity by sending to him a wicked woman, but he drove her from his chamber with a fire-brand. The young saint then threw himself on his knees before a crucifix. Having prayed some time, he fell asleep and it seemed to him that two Angels approached to him, and tightly girded his loins. From that time forward Thomas never suffered the slightest feeling against purity. His sisters, also, had come to the castle, and tried to make him change his mind, but he persuaded them to despise the world and devote themselves to the exercise of a holy life. It was contrived that he should escape through a window of the castle and return to Naples. He was thence taken by John the Teutonic, the general of the Dominican Order, first to Rome, and then to Paris, in which city he was taught philosophy and theology by Albert the Great.
At the age of twenty-five Thomas received the title of Doctor and explained in the public schools, and in a manner that made him the object of universal admiration, the writings of philosophers and theologians. He always applied himself to prayer before reading or writing anything. When he met with any difficult passage in the Sacred Scriptures, he both fasted and prayed. He used often to say to his companion Brother Reginald that if he knew anything, it was more a gift from God than the fruit of his own study and labour. One day, when at Naples, as he was praying, with more than his usual fervour before a crucifix, he heard these words: “Well have you written of me, Thomas! What reward would you have me give you?” He answered: “None other, Lord, but yourself.” There was not a book which he had not most carefully read. His favourite spiritual book was the Conferences of the Fathers. He was most zealous in preaching the Word of God. On one occasion during Easter Week, as he was preaching in the Church of Saint Peter, a woman touched the hem of his habit and was cured of an issue of blood. His writings are so extraordinary, not only for their number and their variety, but also for their clearness in the explaining difficult points of doctrine that he has received the title of Angelical Doctor. He was invited to Rome by Pope Urban IV, but nothing could induce him to accept the honours which were offered him. He refused the Archbishopric of Naples, which Pope Clement IV begged him to accept. Thomas was sent by Pope Gregory X to the Council of Lyons, but having got as far as Fossa Nova, he fell sick. He was received as a guest in the monastery there and wrote a commentary on the Canticle of Canticles. There he died aged 50 in 1274 on the Nones of March (March 7th). His sanctity was made manifest by miracles both before and after his death. He was canonised by Pope John XXII in 1323 and his body was translated to Toulouse during the Pontificate of Pope Urban V.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The Saint we are to honour today is one of the sublimest and most lucid interpreters of Divine Truth. He rose up in the Church many centuries after the Apostolic Age, long after the four great Latin Doctors, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory. The Church, the ever young and joyful Mother, is justly proud of her Thomas, and has honoured him with the splendid title of The Angelical Doctor, on account of the extraordinary gift of understanding with which God had blessed him, just as his co-temporary and friend Saint Bonaventure has been called the Seraphic Doctor on account of the wonderful unction which abounds in the writings of this worthy disciple of Saint Francis. Thomas Aquinas is an honour to mankind, for perhaps there never existed a man whose intellect surpassed his. He is one of the brightest ornaments of the Church, for not one of her Doctors has equalled him in the clearness and precision with which he has explained her doctrines. He received the thanks of Christ Himself for having well written of Him and His mysteries. How welcome ought not this Feast of such a Saint to be to us during this Season of the Year when our main study is our return and conversion to God? What greater blessing could we have than the coming to know this God? Has not our ignorance of God, and His claims, and His perfections been the greatest misery of our past lives? Here we have a Saint whose prayers are most efficacious in procuring for us that knowledge which is unspotted and converts souls, and gives wisdom to little ones, and gladdens the heart, and enlightens the eyes (Psalm xviii. 8, 9). Happy we if this spiritual wisdom be granted us! We will then see the vanity of everything that is not eternal, the righteousness of the divine commandments, the malice of sin and the infinite goodness with which God treats us when we repent.
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How shall we worthily praise you, most holy Doctor! How shall we thank you for what you have taught us? The rays of the Divine Sun of Justice beamed strongly upon you, and you have reflected them upon us. When we picture you contemplating Truth, we think of those words of our Lord: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God” (Matthew v. 8). Your victory over the concupiscence of the flesh merited for you the highest spiritual delights, and our Redeemer chose you because of the purity of your angelic soul to compose for His Church the Office by which she should celebrate the Divine Sacrament of His Love. Learning did not impair your humility. Prayer was ever your guide in your search after Truth, and there was but one reward for which, after all your labours, you were ambitious — the possession of God.
Your life, alas, was short. The very masterpiece of your angelical writings was left unfinished. But you have not lost your power of working for the Church. Aid her in her combats against error. She holds your teachings in the highest estimation because she feels that none of her Saints has ever known so well as you the secrets and Mysteries of her Divine Spouse. Now, perhaps more than in any other age, Truths are decayed — they are diminished among the children of men (Psalm xi. 2). Strengthen us in our Faith, get us Light. Check the conceit of those shallow self-constituted philosophers who dare to sit in judgement over the actions and decisions of the Church and force their contemptible theories upon a generation that is too ill-instructed to detect their fallacies. The atmosphere around us is gloomy with ignorance: loose principles and truths spoilt by cowardly compromise are the fashion of our times. Pray for us, bring us back to that bold and simple acceptance of truth which gives life to the intellect and joy to the heart.
Pray, too, for the grand Order which loves you so devoutly, and honours you as one of the most illustrious of its many glorious children. Draw down upon the family of your Patriarch Saint Dominic the choicest blessings, for it is one of the most powerful auxiliaries of God’s Church. We are on the eve of the holy season of Lent. We are preparing for the great work of earnest conversion of our lives. Your prayers must gain for us the knowledge both of the God we have offended by our sins, and of the wretched state of a soul that is at enmity with its Maker. Knowing this, we will hate our sins. We will desire to purify our souls in the Blood of the spotless Lamb. We will generously atone for our faults by works of penance.Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Tuburbum in Mauritania (Barbary), in the reign of the emperor Severus, the birthday of the Saints Perpetua and Felicitas whose festival is kept on the sixth of this month. St. Augustine relates that Felicitas, being with child, her execution was deferred according to the laws until after her delivery, and while she was in labour she mourned, and when exposed to the beasts, she rejoiced. With them suffered Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus. This last died in prison. All the others were delivered to the beasts.
At Caesarea in Palestine, the passion of St. Eubulus, the companion of St. Adrian. Two days after the latter, being mangled by the lions and killed with the sword, he was the last of all those who received the crown of martyrdom in that city.
At Nicomedia, St. Theophilus, bishop, who was driven into exile for the worship of holy images, and there closed his life.
At Pelusium in Egypt, St. Paul, bishop, who for the same cause also died an exile.
At Brescia, St. Gaudiosus, bishop and confessor.
In Thebais, St. Paul, surnamed the Simple.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
