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Aquinas, Thomas |
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He was born about 1225; died 1274. An Italian theologian, the foremost Christian philosopher of the Middle Ages, and often called the greatest Roman Catholic theologian. According to Catholic teaching, God himself gave Thomas the gift of perfect chastity , which has gained for him the title of the Angelic Doctor. His SUMMA THEOLOGICAE (1266-73) was one of the most influential documents of scholastic philosophy. (Scholasticism is an attempt to rationalize in order to buttress faith by reason.) St. Thomas took the terms "essence" and "appearance" from Aristotle, and changed them into "substance" and "accidents" to explain the mystery of transubstantiation. St. Thomas also first explicitely stated the doctrine of causality, that nothing can exist without a cause and therefore the Sacraments are true causes of grace and not mere by-products of grace. Concerning veneration of images, Aquinas wrote, "The same reverence should be given to the image of Christ as to Christ Himself." St. Thomas rejected the theory of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, claiming that this would destroy the universality of Christ's salvation, but he still contributed to Mariolatry by saying that, at the Annunciation, she represented the whole of humanity (SUMMA THEOLOGICAE, III,30,I). From READ ME OR RUE IT by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan. Imp. Joannes Timotheus, Archiepiscopus, Cincinnatenesis, 8/22/25. Re-printed 11/2/74 by National Centre for Padre Pio , 11 N. Whitehall Rd., Norristown, PA 19403. "St. Thomas, the Prince of theologians, says that the fire of Purgatory is equal in intensity to the fire of Hell."
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