Thomas Aquinas: A Biography

Thomas Aquinas was born in the Kingdom of Naples around 1225 at his father Count Landulf's castle, Roccasecca. Sinibald, Landulf"s brother was an abbot at the Benedictine monastery in Monte Cassino, and Aquinas's family wanted him to follow Sinibald and become an abbot there as well. Aquinas started his education at the monastery at the age of five, and went to the University of Naples later on until he was sixteen. He was influenced by the Dominicans, who tried to enlist young scholars. Aquinas's parents were not pleased with him, and on his way to Rome, his brothers seized him and took him back to them. The family had even brought a woman in order to tempt him, according to one of Aquinas's earliest biographers.

Aquinas's superiors saw his disposition towards theological study and sent him to the Dominican school in Cologne in 1244. The following year he went to the University of Paris, and remained there for three years. During this period, Aquinas earnestly resisted the speeches and pamphlets of the university which caused quite controversy. The Dominicans chose to select Aquinas to defend his order when the Pope was alerted of disputes. He had actually triumphed over arguments of a very celebrated man of the time and the champion of the university, Guillaume de St. Amour. Then, Aquinas graduated as a bachelor of theology, and he returned to Cologne in 1248. There he was appointed second lecturer and magister studentium. For several years after graduating, Aquinas stayed with Albertus Magnus, a great theologian and philosopher he met at the Dominican school in Cologne, and in 1252, he went to get his master's degree in Paris. He had a bit of difficulty but ultimately received his degree.

In 1256, along with his friend Bonaventura, Aquinas was named a doctor of theology. In Paris, Rome, and several other Italian towns, he began to lecture on theology. He served within his order continuously, frequently making long, tedious journeys and advising upon state affairs. Aquinas even advised the king, Louis VIII, and his kinsman on affairs of the state from 1269 to 1271. And, in 1272, he began a new stadium generale at the location of his choosing empowered by the provincial chapter at Florence.

During this entire time, Aquinas wrote lectures, homilies, and disputations, and preached every day. He also worked on the Summa Theologica, a great literary work. Also, the Catholic Church had given him the offer to become Naples' archbishop and an abbot of Monte Cassino. though he refused both offers.

On December 6, 1273, while celebrating mass, Aquinas was said to have had a mystical experience. It was reported that he had heard a voice from a cross that told him he had written well. After, this he set aside his Summa Theologica. Also, on another occasion, monks had claimed to have found him levitating.

Aquinas passed away on March 7, 1274, after a seven week long illness. He was on his way to attend the Second Council of Lyons and became more seriously ill when he had stopped at the castle of one of his nieces. Aquinas made an impression on all who knew him, it is said. He even received the title of doctor angelicas or angelic doctor. On July 18, 1323, the current pope, Pope John XXII pronounced Aquinas's sainthood at Avignon, and the Summa Theologica was deemed to be so important that it was placed upon the alter beside the Bible and the Decretals at the Council of Trent.

Aquinas's philosophy exerted tremendous influence on Christian theology, especially in the Roman Catholic Church. He was an Aristotelian and an empiricist and greatly influenced these two types of Western though. He believed "that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs Divine help, that intellect may be moved by God to its act." He believed that one came to know truth through reason or natural revelation and faith or supernatural revelation. Aquinas's theory of analogy is an important element in his philosophy. He stated three forms of descriptive language: univocal, analogical, and equivocal.

In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas wrote about his ethics, which were based upon the concept of the "first principles of action":

"Virtue denotes a certain perfection of a power. Now a thing's perfection is considered chiefly in regard to its end. But the end of power is act. Wherefore power is said to be perfect, according as it is determinate to its act."

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas

http://www2.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/thomism.htm