WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Cloud of Witnesses: St. Thomas Aquinas, Pt. 1

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

Join Dominic and Marc as they discuss the life of one of the most influential saints in western Christianity. 

Welcome back to Cloud of Witnesses. Before we get started on the main episode, I just wanted to pop in real quick and let you know that this is going to be a two-part series. This was sort of unintended. We just sat down and started recording, and an hour in we realized that we had, you know, too much stuff for one episode. So we decided, hey, let's just turn this into two episodes.

Part one will be on the biography of St. Thomas. And part two will be more talking about the, feast days of St. Thomas, why they're celebrated, when they're celebrated, the change in the feast days, why there are multiple feast days for St. Thomas, and then also his theology, talking about his Trinitarian theology, specifically talking about how he explains the relations within the Trinity, explaining the filiocque, explaining all that fun, you know, philosophical, theological jargon. So with that all other way,

let's hop into this episode. Welcome back to Cloud of Witnesses, where we share the stories of the saints who help shape the church. I'm Dominic Toronto. And I'm Mark Ayers. And today we have an absolute doozy of a show. Today we are going to be talking about

St. Thomas Aquinas. One of the goats. Yeah, I think, you know, even if you aren't a Rowling Catholic, just you have to acknowledge like the sheer, like he was an absolute genius. Yeah, I mean, this man essentially shaped the intellectual life of the church from, you know, when he was born to this day, really. Yeah. I mean, so much of, so much of Catholic canon law in particular and theology and the way in which we use philosophical proofs for Christian purposes. Yeah.

Was intensely shaped by Thomas Aquinas. Yeah. And there were some people make up that he was wrong about things because he was right about. Like he did teach the immaculate conception. Right. There's a common misconception that he didn't, which is false. There's like a different way that he defined it, but he like still taught it. And so people just sort of ran with that and said, huh, even Aquinas is wrong on some stuff.

You know, I'm, I'm an Anglican, so I don't think he was right about everything. But I, you know, even support. As a Catholic, he definitely was. Including Dom, that one section where he says we should burn all the heretics. Oh, really? Did you really? Interesting. Okay, well, you know, maybe we'll have to have a conversation after we finish recording.

Yeah, right. I'll roll up my sleeves. Well, as always, we're going to give a little bit of biographical background. And then we'll delve into sort of his theological contributions. So, Mark, without further ado, what do you got for us today? Absolutely. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 in the family castle of Rukaseca

near Aquino. So at the time it was controlled by the kingdom of Sicily. He is from the powerful branch, the most powerful branch of the Di Aquino family. And his father was named

Landulf the 6ths of Aquino. It's a powerful man. This is a powerful, noble family. His father was a knight in the service of Frederick II. Holy Roman Emperor. His mother, Theodora, was also from Italian nobility. And Aquinas's uncle, Sinibald, was the abbot of Monte Cassino. Interesting. Okay.

The oldest Benedictine monastery, not by St. Benedict. Benedict. We'll get just probably a little bit later. Is that sort of where the tension between him wanting to be a Dominican rather than a Benedictine sort of came from, maybe? That is definitely plays of large part. Okay. So Aquinas was the youngest member of his family, which included nine children, altogether. The rest of the family's sons all pursued military careers, but it seems as though the plan for Thomas was always to go into the clerical life, the monastic life. And as you said,

while the rest of the family's sons all pursued military careers, the family intended for Thomas to become an abbot, like his uncle. This would have been a normal career path for a southern Italian noble to take. So, according to plan, Thomas was placed in the the monastery of Montecasino near his home as an oblate, which is a prospective monk. That's somebody who has not taken final vows, but is living like a monk. Yeah.

In 1239, after nine years in the sanctuary of spiritual and cultural life, Thomas was forced to return to his family when the emperor expelled the monks because they were too obedient to the pope. You have to understand at this time, there's a lot of tension between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope and the Aquino family

were right on the border of those two lands. So there's a lot of tension. They're living in the tension. Yeah, yeah. Thomas was then sent to the University of Naples, recently founded by the emperor, where he first encountered the scientific and philosophical works

that were being translated from Greek and Arabic. In this setting, he decided to join the Friars Preachers or the Dominicans. A new religious order founded 30 years earlier, which departed from the traditional paternalistic form of government for monks,

where you have an abbot and it's pretty enclosed. This is a more democratic form of mendicant friars. The big difference for the mendicants being corporate poverty instead of simply personal poverty. So for example, a Benedictine monastery, like Monte Cassino, may be very, very wealthy as a monastery, but the monks in the monastery actually own,

you know, they don't own the building, they just use it. Yeah, yeah. The Dominicans and the Franciscans as well were different because they said we actually are not even going to use a wealthy monastery. We will as a group altogether be poor. Yeah, yeah. By this move, moving from a monastic life of prayer and labor to a more active life of preaching and teaching in the Mnican order, he really stepped out of line in a certain way.

He's moving from this kind of nobility, sort of detachment from the everyday life of the people into a life where he would be in constant communication with the world. His parents were not happy. I can imagine. At all. They actually, they had him abducted on the road to Paris. Thomas Aquinas, his superiors, assigned him to Paris for two reasons. One, so that he would be out of reach of his family.

And two, so that he could pursue his studies in the most prestigious and turbulent university of that time, University of Paris. his family abducted him on the road and held him in captivity for a full year. And at this time, they did everything in their power to try to convince him to become a Benedictine. Okay.

Which was seen as a monastic order of, you know, the more high esteem. This is a old order. This is a noble order. Yeah. They live in Muscassino. They live in Muscatino. Not like you upstart Dominicans

who started a couple decades ago. And if he was a Benedictine, he could eventually become, abbot of hopefully Monte Cassino. This is a prestigious and well-known position. So he was held prisoner for a year. They kept attempting to convince him to do something different.

Political concerns prevented the Pope from ordering his release, which had the effect of extending his detention. And Thomas passed this time tutoring his sisters and communicating with his Dominican brothers. Family members became desperate to dissuade Thomas, who remained

determined to join the Dominicans. At one point, two of his brothers resorted to hiring a prostitute to seduce him, presumably because sexual temptation might, you know, dissuade him from life of celibacy. And according to the official records for his canonization, Thomas drove her away wielding a burning log, with which he inscribed a cross under the wall

and fell into a mystical ecstasy. Two angels appeared to him as he slept and said, Behold, we gird thee by the command of God with the girdle of chastity, which henceforth will never be imperil. What human strength cannot obtain is now bestowed upon thee as a celestial gift, which is really cool. Yes, yeah.

So as the legend goes, from that point onwards, Thomas was given the grace of perfect chastity by Christ, a girdle which he wore to the end of his life. Aren't there some sort of based off of this story, aren't there some particularly the more pious Dominicans who hold that St. Thomas because of this never committed acts of mortal sin or venial sin sort of in regards to lust? Yeah, I've heard that. And I think that's what is implied by the gift of perfect chastity. Yeah.

He was he never had any sort of temptation or, you know, action in the regards of lust. By 1244, it was clear that the attempts to dissuade Thomas from becoming a Dominican had failed. So his mother, Theodora, seeking to save the. family's dignity, arranged for Thomas to escape at night through a window. In her mind, a secret escape was less damaging than an open surrender to the Dominicans, which is really funny. Yes. Kind of negotiating the dignity in that way. So first Thomas was sent to Naples and then to Rome, to meet Johannes von Wildes-Schalzen, the master general of the Dominican order. In the autumn of 1245, he was finally sent to Paris to the convent of St. Jacques, the great university center

of the Dominicans. There he studied under St. Albertus Magnus, a tremendous scholar with a wide range of intellectual interests. This is Albert the Great in case anyone has heard of him. Also, as was just mentioned, incredible intellectual.

In 1248, Albertus was sent by his superiors to teach at the new Studium Generale at Cologne, and St. Thomas followed him. Declining, Pope Innocent the Fourths offered to appoint him, Abbott of Monte Cassino as a Dominican, which is incredible. Can you imagine that? Yeah, would that have been like a new thing? Like I don't like to have a... To my knowledge,

no Abbott of Monte Cassino has ever not been a Benedictine. Okay. But of course I'd have to look that up. Sure, yeah. Albertus then appointed the reluctant Thomas Magister Studientum, the teacher of the students. It's a high position. Because Thomas was quiet, it did not speak much, some of his fellow students thought he was slow. But Albertus prophetically exclaimed, You call him the dumb ox, but in his teaching, he will one day produce such a bellowing

that it will be heard throughout the world. Boyd did it ever. Oh yeah. And then some. Thomas taught in Cologne as an apprentice professor, instructing students on the books of the Old Testament and writing several things, including the literal commentary on Isaiah, the commentary on Jeremiah,

and the commentary on lamentations. In 1252, he returned to Paris to study for a master's degree in theology. He lectured on the Bible as an apprentice professor, and upon becoming a Bachelor of the Sentences, which is Peter Lombard's sentences, he devoted his final three years to study on those said sentences. Which, in case anyone is wondering, Peter Lombard's sentences were the religious textbook of the Middle Ages. Yeah, if you were getting any sort of degree in theology, you knew Peter Lombard's sentences. barred sentences front and back, basically. Oh, yes. In the first of his four theological syntheses, Thomas composed a massive commentary on the sentences, entitled, Commentary on the Sentences.

In addition to his master's writings, he wrote, On Being in Essence for his fellow Dominicans in Paris. In early 1256, Thomas was appointed Regent Master in Theology at Paris, and one of his first works, upon assuming this office, was against those who assailed the worship of God and religion, which was a defense of the mendicant orders. By the end of his regency, at around 1259, Thomas was working on one of his most famous works, suma contra gentiles, or against the Gentiles. From 1252 to 1257, Thomas lived and worked with St. Bonaventure, of whom he became a fraternal friend.

Both of them were at the time teaching theology at the University of Paris. And interestingly, they actually disagreed about the role of faith in theology in relation to natural reason. Yeah. But how cool is that, that both of those, you know, very famous and extremely influential

medieval saints working in Paris at the same time? Together with St. Bonaventure, he was personal advisor to King Louis the 9th of France. In 1259, he completed his first regency at the Studium General

and left Paris so that others in his order could gain this teaching experience. He returned to Naples, and in September 1261, he was called to Orvieto as a conventional lecturer, where he was responsible for the pastoral formation of the friars unable to attend a studium general.

In Orvieto, he completed his suma contragentiles and wrote several other works as well, including many hymns, which are still in use today, including the panjaliingua, which, if any Catholics are listening and you've ever been to Holy Hour, you have heard his hymn before, written by Thomas Aquinas. and of course the Pani Sanjellicus. In 1265, Pope Clement the 4th summoned Thomas to Rome to serve as papal theologian. And while in Rome, he taught at the Studium Conventual at the Roman convent of Santa Sabina, founded in 1222, which was essentially a teaching school for the Dominicans.

While at the Santa Sabina, Thomas began his most famous work, the Summa Theologica, which he conceived specifically suited to beginner students. which if any of you you know everyone has probably read st thomas in their beginning religion class uh you know the first time hearing that oh this is a work meant for beginners a lot of people are oh then maybe i'm yet to become a beginner yes oh my goodness yeah i mean the first time we had dealt with it was a mid-level college class i think was that me of course i had heard of it before

but really doing a deep reading of it. And that was meant for beginner monks who probably had not been to college. Incredible. While at the head of the studium at Santa Sabina, Thomas conducted a series of important disputations on the power of God, which were later compiled into the De Potentia.

He wrote many other works there as well and was at the stadium until 1268, where he was called back to Paris. so he was called back to Paris in 1268 supposedly to fight the rise of Averroism which was also referred to as radical Aristotelianism Yeah because a lot of Western we sort of forget but Western Aristotelianism

was sort of filtered through the Muslim world A lot of our translations of Aristotle are not from original and Greek but are from Arabic Avaros was a famous Muslim scholar who was, you know, again, a radical Aristotelian. And St. Thomas, as a Aristotelian as he was, you know, wasn't willing to sort of take the problematic parts into his teaching. So there were a couple of places where he departed from the philosopher. Right. In 1272, Thomas took his leave from the University of Paris when the Dominicans in his home province called upon him to establish a Studium General wherever he liked

and staffed as he pleased. He chose to establish the institution in Naples. and moved there to take his post as regent master. He took his time in Naples to work on the third part of the Summa, while giving lectures on various religious topics. He preached to the people of Naples every single day during Lent of 1273. These sermons on the Ten Commandments, Nicene Creed, Our Father, and Hail Mary were very popular. He has been traditionally ascribed with the ability to levitate and is having various mystical experiences.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote that his experiences included well-attested cases of levitation and ecstasy, and that the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, comforting him with welcome news that he would never be a bishop. Which is funny. It is traditionally held that on one occasion in 1273, in the Chapel of St. Nicholas, after the early morning service of Maddens, Thomas lingered and was said by the sacristan to be levitating in prayer with tears before an icon of the crucified Christ. Christ reportedly said, you have written well of me, Thomas.

What reward would you have for your labor? Thomas is said to have responded nothing but you, Lord. On 6th of December 1273, another mystical experience reportedly took place. While he was celebrating Mass, he is said to have experienced an unusually long ecstasy. Because of what Thomas saw, he abandoned his routine and later refused to dictate to his socius, Reginald of Piperno. When Reginald begged him to get back to work, Thomas replied, I cannot, because all I have written seems like straw to me.

As a result, the Summa Theologico would remain uncompleted. It said that he had an experience where he had a vision, where he conversed with the Lord. Some say he had a vision of heaven. Yeah. Of the beatific vision. And he was so moved by it. That's what tradition holds, that he saw the beatific vision.

Yeah. was so astounded by it that he just could not. He could not keep writing. In 1274, Pope Gregory X summoned Thomas to attend the Second Council of Leon. It was the attempt to heal the great schism of 1054, which had divided the Catholic Church in the West from the Eastern Orthodox Church. At the meeting, Thomas's work for Pope Open the Fourth concerning the Greeks, contra errors Gregorum, was to be presented.

However, on his way to the council, riding a donkey along the Appian Way, he struck his head on the branch of a fallen tree and became seriously ill again. He was quickly escorted to Monte Cassino, set out again after recovering, but was stopped at the Cistercianova Abbey after again falling ill. The monks nursed him for several days, and as he received his last rites, he prayed, I have written and taught much about this very holy body,

and about the other sacraments in the faith of Christ, and about the Holy Roman Church, to whose correction I expose and submit everything, I have written. Thomas died on the 7th of March, 1274, while giving commentary on the song of songs. He died one of the most well-respected and well-written theologians of his day and has remained so to this very day. Yeah. I mean, you know, a lot of times sort of individuals who are genius aren't, aren't realized or recognized as such in their time. Like, you know, Bach famously, you know, died a pauper. And it wasn't until Mendelsohn came along and said, hey,

this guy's actually pretty cool that we realized, oh, Bach is actually, like, insanely talented. This is not the case for St. Thomas. I mean, you know, several popes, like, asked him, like, you know, Pope Urban the fourth asked him to write, contra Aero's Grecoorum, like, against the heirs of the Greeks. Pope Gregory the 10th is asking him, hey, we're, like, trying to heal the schism, come to the second counsel of Leon and, like, help us.

He was canonized. So, like, died 1272. And his canonization was, in 1323. So like 50 years between his death and his canonization. So he was recognized as a genius as this sort of

savant of a theologian at the time. Thank you all so much for tuning in to this episode of Cloud of Witnesses. Come back next time to hear part two as we talk about the history of the feast days behind St. Thomas, Aquinas, as well as a delving into his Trinitarian theology. Hope to you guys next time and stay holy.