Saint Thomas Aquinas, considered the "Prince of Scholastics", was an important Italian philosopher and priest of the Middle Ages, entitled Doctor of the Catholic Church in 1567.
Biography
Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225, in Aquino, an Italian commune, in the Castle of Roccasecca.
Son of Count Landulf Aquino, he received an excellent education. He studied at the abbey of Roccasecca, in the Monastery of the Order of St. Benedict of Cassino. Later, he entered the University of Naples, in the Chair “Liberal Arts”.
At just 19 years old, in 1244, he abandoned the course and decided to follow his religious vocation becoming a Dominican, joining the Order of Dominicans, at the Saint Jacques convent in Paris. He stayed for a few years in Paris, an important city for his spiritual, intellectual and professional development.
However, it was in the city of Cologne, Germany, that Aquino wrote his first works, being a disciple of the German bishop, philosopher and theologian Saint Albert the Great (1206 d. C-1280 d. C.), known as Alberto, the great.
Later, in 1252, Thomas Aquinas returned to Paris where he graduated in Theology and pursued a career as a professor. He taught classes in Rome, Naples and other cities in Italy.
He became known as Doctor Angelico, whose life's work was dedicated to faith, hope and charity, thus constituting a Christian preacher of reason and prudence.
He was one of the supporters of scholastic, dialectical method that intended to unite faith and reason in favor of human growth. One of his greatest works, Summa Theologica, is the greatest example of Scholasticism, in which it presents relationships between science, reason, philosophy, faith and theology. Second Aquino:
"There is nothing in the intellect that has not previously passed through the senses."
Saint Thomas He died in the city of Fossanova, Italy, on March 7, 1274, at the age of 49 years.
Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas
Inspired by the ideas of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 a. C.-322 a. C.), the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas was based on Aristotelian realism, to the detriment of Saint Augustine's followers, inspired by Plato's idealism.
Therefore, Aquino was one of the most outstanding thinkers of that period, a defender of scholastic philosophy, a Christian and philosophical method, based on the union between reason and faith.
Thus, Thomas Aquinas wrote numerous works, where he privileged reason and human will, thus formulating a new Christian philosophical thought.
Works by St. Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas was a great scholar and avid writer in the areas of philosophy, metaphysics, physics, theology, ethics and politics. Some of his works:
- prayers
- Sermons
- Sum Up Against the Gentiles
- Summa Theology
- Exposition about the Creed
- The Being and the Essence (1248-1252)
- Compendium of Theology (1258-1259)
- Commentaries on the Gospel of St. John
- Comments on the Epistle of São Paulo
- Comment on the Sentences
I love you devotee
Christian hymn written by Thomas Aquinas:
“I adore you with affection, hidden God,
that you hide in these appearances.
My heart is subject to you entirely
and faints at the sight of you.
The sight, the touch and the taste don't reach you,
but only by hearing you firmly, I believe.
I believe everything that the Son of God said,
nothing truer than this Word of Truth.
On the cross only your divinity was hidden,
but here humanity is also hidden.
I, however, believing and confessing both,
I ask you what the repentant thief asked.
Like Thomas, I don't see your wounds either,
but I confess, Lord, that thou art my God;
make me believe in you more and more,
wait on you, love you.
O memorial of the Lord's death,
living bread that gives life to man,
make my thoughts always of you live,
and may this knowledge always be sweet to you.
Lord Jesus, bathing suit,
wash me, unclean, with your blood,
which a single drop can save
the world of all sins.
Jesus, whom I now see under veils,
I ask you to fulfill what I most yearn for:
that seeing your face uncovered,
be me happy contemplating your glory”
Phrases of Saint Thomas Aquinas
- “Humility is the first step to wisdom.”
- “Inordinate self-love is the cause of all sins.”
- “Beware the one-book man.”
- “The reason is the imperfection of intelligence.”
- “Art is the right reason for doing a job.”
- “Communion destroys the devil's temptation.”
- “For those who have faith, no explanation is needed. For those without faith, no explanation is possible.”
See too: The most important philosophers in history.
