St. Thomas Aquinas - 1225 - 1274
Thomas Aquinas was born into a wealthy family in 1225. He was very gifted and intelligent. His abilities enabled him to go to a university while he was young.
During this time, Pope Honorius recognized the group of preachers that was started by St. Dominic, and he called them the Order of Preachers. This group of people, called the Dominicans, planned to go out into the world and not live in cloisters.They also recognized the need to use intellectual gifts in teaching Christianity.
While Thomas Aquinas was at school, his classmates called him 'Dumb Ox'. But Thomas was impressed with the Dominicans and wanted to join them. Against his parents' desires, he joined this group. He worked to express Christian revelation in a systematic form. He learned how to do this by studying Aristotles' teachings, which were introduced to Europe as they were translated into Latin.
Some of Thomas Aquninas' writings were Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica, which was an attempt to harmonize God's word with reason and natural revelation. Even Aristotle, who was not a professing believer in Jesus Christ, made brilliant explanations of the world around him, using reason.
Thomas Aquinas never finished writing his book, Summa Theologica, because while he was in the process of writing it, while he was in worship one day, he had a heavenly vision. Here is what he said in response to that vision, " All that I have hitherto written seems to me nothing but straw....compared to what has been revealed to me."
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