Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas was solemnly canonized by John X XII in 13 Jean XXII Pope who placed the diocese of Rieux under the protection of Saint Cizy. 23, and Pius V orde Pie V Successor to Pius IV, he supported Charles Borromeo in his reforms. red in 1567 that his feast be celebrated in the same manner as that of the four doctors of the Western Church, that is to say, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, and Saint Gregory the Great.

The works of Saint Thomas Aquinas can be divided into four different classes. In the first are the works of philosophy; in the second, those of theology; in the third, the commentaries on Holy Scripture; in the fourth, the opuscula, which may be called miscellaneous works, because of the diversity of subjects explained therein.

It is necessary to go back a little further to make known the philosophical works of Saint Thomas. The elegance of style had given the writings of Plato the greatest vogue among the pagans, and the most learned Fathers of the Church had been raised in the maxims of the school of this philosopher. His doctrine seemed to favor the Christian religion. Indeed, no author had ever spoken in such a sublime manner of the attributes of the Divinity, of Providence, of the punishments and rewards of a future life. It was concluded from this that Plato, in the course of his travels in Egypt and Phoenicia, had learned there several of these primordial truths that tradition had preserved there despite the darkness of paganism. It was not the same with the philosophy of Aristotle: besides the fact that it did not present such beautifu Aristote Greek philosopher whose doctrine was taught by Anatole. l knowledge, it also contained several dangerous principles which the heretics of the first centuries had used to undermine the foundations of Christianity. It therefore had less currency than that of Plato, and this is why Tertullian called Aristotle the patriarch of heretics, and why a council of Paris proscribed his works around the year 1209. This does not, however, prevent those who judge without partiality from regarding him as the greatest genius of antiquity, and perhaps even as the most profound and penetrating genius that has ever appeared. He is the only one of the ancients who knew, deepened, and developed the rules of reasoning, and who gave a complete system of philosophy; and if he fell into errors, as one cannot deny, this comes from the fact that he relied too much on human reason, which is very weak when it is not enlightened by the lights of revelation. The ancient heretics are not the only ones who abused the principles of Aristotle; they had imitators in the 12th and 13th centuries, such as Peter Abelard, the Albigensians, etc. But of all those who wrote then on the principles of the Greek philosopher, there are none who pushed subtlety further than the Saracens of Arabia and Spain. Saint Thomas attacked the enemies of truth with their own weapons; he made the very philosophy of Aristotle serve th Sarrasins Group targeted by efforts of conversion and philosophical refutation. e defense of the faith, and it can be said that he succeeded in his enterprise beyond all hope. He distinguished the errors in order to refute them, and presented, in the most striking light, truths that reason had discovered, but which were often wrapped in darkness that not everyone was in a position to pierce. Finally, Aristotle, who was called the terror of Christians, was rendered as if orthodox by Saint Thomas, and provided religion with new weapons against atheism and idolatry. What our holy doctor wrote on this philosopher constitutes the subject matter of the first five volumes of his works. If one sometimes finds things of little consequence there, it is less his fault than that of the sophistic genius of the Arabs.

2° Saint Thomas's commentaries on the four books of the Master of the Sentences contain a methodical course of theology and form volumes VI and VII of his works. 3° Volumes X, XI, and XII contain the Summa Theologica. This work is admi Somme théologique Major theological work by Albert. rable, although death did not allow its author to put the finishing touches to it. Saint Augustine is the one among all the Fathers whom he followed the most; which led the learned Cardinals Noris and Aguirre to say that Saint Thomas was his most faithful interpreter. He drew primarily from Saint Gregory's Morals on Job the practical rules of duties and virtues. Maximus Planudes translated the Summa Theologica into Greek. Three manuscripts of it are known: one that was kept in Venice in the library of Cardinal Bessarion; another that is found in Rome in the Vatican Library; and the third in Paris, in the library of the Rue Richelieu. Dom Mechitar published a translation of it in the Armenian language in Venice at the beginning of the last century. Father Ragni made a translation of it into Chinese. De Murande, de Hauteville, and Father Griflois provided translations of it into French, more or less complete and more or less accurate. Abbé Drioux has just published an integral translation of it, with notes full of erudition and interest, 1851-1853, 8 vol. in-8°. It was at the solicitation of Saint Raymond of Penyafort that our holy doctor composed the Summa saint Raymond de Pennefort Commissioner of the Summa contra Gentiles. contra Gentiles. The goal of this work was to provide the preachers of Spain with the means to work fruitfully for the conversion of the Jews and the Saracens. The Summa contra Gentiles was translated into Greek and Hebrew during the very lifetime of the illustrious doctor.

4° We also have from Saint Thomas commentaries on the greater part of Scripture. His Explanation of the four Gospels appeared under the title of Catena aur ea (the gold Catena aurea Commentary on the Gospels by the Church Fathers. en chain). This work is a commentary on the Gospels through a sequence of passages drawn from the holy Fathers, such that these immortal doctors seem to continue and explain one another; a miraculous work, says William of Tocco; a work more resplendent than the sun; *sole elatior*, according to the expression of the venerable Cardinal Bellarmine. Abbé Castan translated this beautiful work into French. Paris, 8 vol. in-8°, 1854. Saint Thomas had undertaken his work on the holy Gospels at the invitation of Pope Urban IV. The same pontiff charged him with composing the office of the Blessed Sacrament, which the Church still sings today. The canticles *Sacris solenniis*, *Pange lingua*, *Verbum supernum*, and *Lauda Sion* are as elevated by the sentiments they express as they are by the lyrical tone that reigns within them.

5° His Opuscula cover various subjects. One finds therein the refutation of the errors of the schismatic Greeks and of several heresies; the discussion of certain points of philosophy and theology; and explanations of the Creed, the sacraments, the Decalogue, the Lord's Prayer, and the Angelic Salutation. The holy doctor, in his treatises on piety, reduces the rules of the interior life to the following two: 1° to work, through the practice of mortification and self-denial, to destroy the reign of pride and the disordered love of creatures; 2° to constantly kindle in one's heart the fire of divine love, through the exercise of prayer and meditation, and through a perfect fulfillment of the will of God in all things.

The complete works of Saint Thomas have been edited: in Rome (1571), in 18 folio volumes; in Venice (1593); in Antwerp (1614), in 19 volumes; in Paris (1636), in 23 volumes; in Venice (1745-1760) (1765-1788), in 28 volumes; in Venice (1858), in 24 volumes; in our day, in Parma, 24 volumes; and in Paris, at Vivès, approximately 30 volumes.

As for the Summa, after an interruption of about a hundred years, it has once again become, as in the past, a classic: it is in the hands of all theology students. The edition that is indisputably the most complete, the one containing the best commentaries, is that which the Célestins, successors of M. Louis Guérin, in Bar-le-Duc, publish under this title: *Sancti Thomæ Aquinatis Summa theologica, diligenter emendata, Nicolai, Sylvii, Billuart et C.-J. Brioux notis ornata*. 8 volumes, square octavo.

The Roman Martyrology makes honorable mention of Saint Thomas. Saint Antoninus, Antoninus of Pisa, David Hoeschel, Paul Regius, Surius, and Ferdinand del Castillo have written about his virtues. Father Touron published a life of Saint Thomas in 1797. To compose this new life of Saint Thomas, we have made use of the History of the Saint by Abbé Bareille; the Dominican Year, 10 vols. in-8°; Godescard; and the Acta. But it is the work of Abbé Bareille that must be read if one wishes to see how Saint Thomas was the light, the engine, and the center of his century.

The oldest life of Saint Thomas Aquinas is that which was provided, during the very lifetime of the Saint, by Gérard de Frachat, a Dominican religious of the convent of Limoges (1254-1363), and Thomas of Cantimpré; the latter was a guide for Thomas Aquinas in Cologne. After them come Stephen of Salanches, who died in 1290, and Ptolemy of Lucca, both of the Order of Preachers. The Annals of the latter go from the year 1060 to the year 1274. The Bollandists did not reproduce these lives or notices: they begin with the biographical work of Guillaume de Tocco, an other child of Sai Guillaume de Tocco Contemporary biographer and witness to the saint's life. nt Dominic, who asserts having seen and heard Brother Thomas. Guillaume de Tocco wrote this life with a view to the canonization of the Saint: it is divided into one hundred and twenty-five chapters. After Guillaume de Tocco, the Bollandists provide the acts of the canonization process. Then follow extracts from Bernard de la Guichnie, Bishop of Lodève; from a manuscript life found in Utrecht and Milan, etc., etc.