51 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
51 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
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ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, (1225?-74)
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The Roman Catholic church regards St. Thomas Aquinas as its
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greatest theologian and philosopher. Pope John XXII canonized him
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in 1323, and Pius V declared him a doctor of the church in 1567.
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Leo XIII made him patron of Roman Catholic schools in 1880.
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Thomas Aquinas, or Thomas of Aquino, was born in about 1225 in the
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castle of Roccasecca, near Naples. His father was the count of Aquino.
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The boy received his early education at the abbey of Monte Cassino
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before attending the University of Naples. While at the university
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Thomas came under the influence of the Dominicans, an order of
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mendicant preaching friars. In spite of the opposition of his family,
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he joined the order. His brothers captured him and imprisoned him at
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Roccasecca. After two years he escaped.
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The Dominicans then sent Thomas to Cologne to study with Albertus
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Magnus, the most learned man of the time. In 1252 Thomas was in Paris
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composing his 'Commentaries on the Books of Sentences of Peter the
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Lombard'. He was later admitted as master of theology at the
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University of Paris. In 1259 the pope called Thomas to Rome. He spent
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the rest of his life lecturing and preaching in the service of his
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order, chiefly in Italian cities and in Paris. He died on March 7,
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1274, while traveling to a church council at Lyons.
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A revival of learning had begun in Western Europe toward the end of
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the 11th century. By the 13th century many universities had been
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founded. They were linked to the church, and the chief subjects taught
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were theology and the liberal arts. The teachers were called Schoolmen
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or Scholastics. Thomas was recognized in his lifetime as the greatest
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of the Schoolmen and was known as the "angelic doctor."
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The Schoolmen accepted Christian doctrines as beyond dispute, but they
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also studied the ancient Greek philosophers. Until the 13th century
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they relied on Plato as interpreted by St. Augustine of Hippo.
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Aristotle's treatises on logic were also admitted into the schools,
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but his other works, which were known in their Arabic translations,
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were forbidden because of their pantheistic tendencies. Albertus
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Magnus introduced Thomas to the works of Aristotle, which were
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beginning to be translated from the original Greek. Thomas set himself
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the tasks of harmonizing Aristotle's teachings with Christian
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doctrine.
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Thomas held that there are two sources of knowledge: revelation
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(theology) and reason (philosophy). He held that revelation is a
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divine source of knowledge and that revealed truths must be believed
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even when they cannot be fully understood. His literary output was
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enormous. At times he dictated to several scribes on different
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subjects. His chief works are 'Summa Contra Gentiles' and 'Summa
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Theologiae'.
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