The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March

But whilst thus engaged upon the Scriptures and the Lombard, S. Thomas was frequently in the pulpit, and he regularly delivered lectures to crowded halls. His versatility, his power of abstraction, his astonishing memory, his zealous husbanding of time, carried him with ease through works which would have broken the spirit of any ordinary man. He possessed that marvellous gift which Origen and Cæsar are said to have had, of being able to dictate to three or even four scribes on different and difficult subjects at the same time, and that, too, without losing the thread of each argument.

Frigerius says that, as Professor, he elucidated the Sentences with such sublimity of thought that he seemed rather the author of the work than its expositor. Tocco, "that he surpassed all the masters of the University, and by the lucidity of his expositions drew, beyond all others, the intelligences of his disciples towards a love of science." Students from every part of Europe flocked around his chair.

In touching on S. Thomas's commentary on the "Sentences," the influence of Alexander Hales must not be forgotten, but he far eclipsed the Minorite in his proofs of the non-eternity of the world – a question of momentous importance in the Middle Ages, as well as in his discussion of the possibility and fitness of the Incarnation. Thomas carried his teaching on Grace to such perfection that in the Middle Ages it was always received as a standard authority.

If judged by its bulk, this "Commentary" would seem sufficient to have occupied a life. It fills over 1250 pages of the large quarto Parma edition, printed in double columns. It is a monument of ceaseless labour, great skill, and patient thought.

The work of the Lombard is a confusion compared with the lucid style and admirable arrangement of the saint. In place of the crabbed inverted language of Peter, we have the simple, logical, direct use of words, which go straight to the point, and express the complete idea. He has these weighty words on the subject of theology, "Since the end of all philosophy is contained within the end of theology, and is subservient to it, theology ought to command all other sciences, and turn to its use those things which they treat of." He adds, "The more sublime knowledge is, so much greater is its unity, and so much wider the circle of its expansion, whence the Divine intellect, which is the most sublime of all, by the light, which is God Himself, possesses a distinct knowledge of all things." He also shows how the intellect becomes illuminated when led by faith, illustrating the motto of the monastic school, "Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis." And he shows that theology is deduction, and philosophy induction; and that the basis of theology must be authority, i. e., a Revelation.

During the Lent of 1250 or 1253, the city patrol came in collision with a party of students, killed one of them, wounded three others, and carried them off to prison. The secular professors of the University refused to lecture, until the beadles were punished, but the Dominican and Franciscan teachers went on with their lectures. When redress had been granted to the University for the outrage, that body drew up an oath to observe all the laws of the University, which it was intended should be taken by all persons before taking the degree as master. The regulars refused to take it; then the University issued a decree, declaring the friars excluded from its body, and deprived of their chairs. The latter appealed to Rome. The pope commissioned the bishop of Evreux, and Luke, canon of Paris, to re-establish the friars in their chairs, which was done. This pope dying, his successor issued a bull, binding all to stop teaching in case of insult, but re-establishing the friars. The king, returning home, stopped the execution of the papal briefs. The pope issued another bull more stringent than the first. Since 1256, S. Thomas had been lecturing as licentiate. At the same time he was enjoying the friendship of S. Bonaventura, who was lecturing under the Franciscan professor. Both men exhibited, in a striking manner, the fundamental quality of the order to which they respectively belonged. Bonaventura loved to look into the placid, earnest soul of Thomas, as into a deep sea, with its marvellous transparency, and awful stillness; whilst Thomas was roused and brightened by the ardent gushing nature of his friend. S. Thomas was angelical; S. Bonaventura was seraphic – the one, the deep thinker; the other, the tender poet. Thomas was famous in the schools for the keenness of his thought, and for his depth and clearness; Bonaventura for his eloquence and vivacity in exposition; the former was a child of contemplation, the latter of activity. Once S. Thomas asked S. Bonaventura to show him the books out of which he got his sublime thoughts. "There is the book," replied S. Bonaventura, pointing to the crucifix. During this time S. Thomas wrote his "Exposition on the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, the Ten Commandments, and the Law of Love." Another work on the "Articles of the Faith and the Sacraments" falls within this period, as well as a commentary on Isaiah.

Meanwhile, William of S. Amour, the celebrated philosopher and doctor of the University, was endeavouring to turn the mendicant Orders out of Paris by getting people to withhold their alms, and by forbidding the members of these Orders to attend the secular lectures.

He also endeavoured to fix the authorship of an heretical work, called "The Everlasting Gospel," on the Franciscans and Dominicans.

But he himself had written a book, called "Perils of the last times." This the king sent by two doctors of theology for the pope's examination. The University sent a deputation to make the Holy Father acquainted with "The Everlasting Gospel." William was leader of this deputation. S. Thomas was sent to defend his order; S. Bonaventura that of S. Francis. S. Thomas, after examining the "Perils," reported to the Dominican chapter that "God had given him grace to discover whatever is false, captious, erroneous, impious in it, and that after the holy See had pronounced judgment on it, the faithful would only notice it to condemn it." In a few days the saint prepared his defence of the order, and his answer to the "Perils." He pleaded before the pope and sacred college with such success as to gain their applause.

When he had done, the four cardinals gave in their report on the "Perils," which stated that it was full of false doctrine, injurious to the authority of the pope and the bishops, and to the honour of several religious orders approved by the holy See. After examining the report, the pope condemned the "Perils" by a bull, dated October 5th, 1256, and ordered the book to be burnt. The deputation from the University arrived after the work of their leader had been burnt. They endeavoured to obtain a revocation of the condemnation, but, instead, they were compelled to take pen and themselves subscribe it. They swore, moreover, to receive into the body of the University the Dominicans and Franciscans, especially SS. Thomas and Bonaventura. William of S. Amour refused to comply, and being forbidden to enter France, retired to his estate in Burgundy. A few years later he was allowed to return to Paris. He died in 1270. It was partly in reply to William's attack on the religious orders, that S. Thomas wrote his Opusculum, "Against those who attack religion and the worship of God," and that "Against those who hinder men from entering religion," which are the best defence and exaltation of monastic principles ever penned.32

S. Thomas having been recalled by his superiors before the winter of the same year (1256), embarked on board a ship bound for France. The vessel was overtaken by a furious storm; the pilot and sailors tried every artifice to escape the shoals, on which they were being driven by wind and wave. Thomas, like a second S. Paul, preserved his confidence, and prayed God to give him all the souls that were with him. His prayer was heard: the aspect of nature changed, and the ship pursued her course in safety.

Several bulls followed the deputies to Paris. The prudence and kindness of S. Louis helped greatly to restore peace between the University and the friars. The University seal was set to the summons addressed to SS. Thomas and Bonaventura to take their doctor's degrees, which had been delayed two years by the troubles. S. Thomas thought many other Dominicans more deserving of the honour than himself. Whilst sadly meditating on this, he thought an old man appeared to him, asking the cause of his sadness. He replied, "It is not right that they should force me to take rank among the doctors, a thing of which I am not capable." The old man said, "The order thou hast received is assurance enough; it destroys thy own will, and points to God's will in that of thy superiors. Take as the text of thy thesis: 'He watereth the hills from above: the earth is filled with the fruit of Thy works. Ps. ciii. 13.'" On the morrow, after a struggle between S. Bonaventura and himself for the last place, Thomas, as being the younger, gained it. He preached from the text given him, and it has been regarded as a prophecy of the influence which the new doctor was to exercise over Christendom. The day on which he took his degree was the 23rd October, 1257.

The epoch on which we have now entered is the most glorious period of our saint's life. The star of his genius mounted, without a cloud to obscure it, in the firmament of the Church. In spite of all the eulogies of his contemporaries, it is difficult for us to comprehend now-a-days the extent of the power which Aquinas exercised over the men and the ideas of his time.

S. Thomas now drew up his famous "Summa contra Gentiles." He begins this treatise by stating that he will discuss all questions on the ground of human reason, seeking therein a common ground on which to combat his adversaries, or rather seeking in their natural intelligence a point on which to rest that bridge which might lead them from human reason to the truth of God; then he establishes the necessity of faith; he shows next that reason affords ground for expecting a supernatural revelation; lastly, he cements together reason and faith. Then he makes his general division: he considers God in Himself, in relation to men, and men in relation to God. To these three parts he joins a fourth, viz., revelation properly so-called; therein he expounds the Trinity, the Incarnation, with all the dogmas which attach themselves to it, the whole destiny of man in the plan of Christianity. This we may call the theological evolution of his great work. In that which may be called its philosophical introduction he resolves all such difficult questions; as the falsehood of pantheism, evil and its origin, its nature, and its effects, which he turns into a proof of God's existence in opposition to those unquiet spirits, who saw in it a reason for doubting His existence.

This work was followed immediately by one upon all the Epistles of S. Paul.

The question of the Eucharistic accidents was then much mooted in the schools, especially in those of Paris. The question was, whether those accidents had anything real, or were only an appearance, in other words, whether the form under which Jesus hides Himself in the Eucharist exists in the Sacrament itself, or in a false relation of the senses? Wearied with a struggle to which they could foresee no end, all the doctors determined to refer the question to the decision of S. Thomas, and to accept that decision as conformable to the light of reason and faith. The saint braced himself to the contemplation of this subject, and having prayed, he wrote as the Spirit inspired him. He was loth to take into the presence of the doctors and of the schools, the fruit of his science and his prayer, before he had consulted Him of Whom he was speaking, Whose aid he had implored.

He came to the altar, and placing before the tabernacle as before the Master of masters, that which he had written on the subject of the controversy, he raised his hands towards the image of Jesus crucified, and prayed in this fashion: "O Lord Jesu, Who dost verily dwell in this wonderful Sacrament, Whose works are incomprehensible marvels, I humbly beseech Thee, if what I have written about Thee is agreeable to the truth, grant that I may teach it, and persuade my brethren of it on Thy behalf; but if, on the contrary, there be anything in this writing which errs from the Catholic faith, make it impossible for me to bring it before their eyes."

Now the doctor had been followed by his habitual companion and by several other religious of our order, and they saw Jesus Christ standing on the leaves which had been written by the hand of Thomas, and saying to him, "Thou hast written worthily, my son, of the Sacrament of My Body." And the doctor's prayer still continuing, he was seen to raise himself nearly to the height of a cubit in the air.

The author who gives this account says he received it from a religious who was at S. James's with S. Thomas. The members of the University submitted to the decision, though given by a young man of only thirty-two years of age.

Louis IX. had forced our saint to enter his council chamber. Whenever an important affair was coming on for deliberation in the royal council, the king caused brother Thomas to be instructed about it over night, that he might reflect thereon in solitude, and might remember it at the Sacrifice. He was consulted by the king not so much as the man of genius, but as the man of God.

The saint, in spite of his earnest entreaties to be excused, was sometimes compelled, both by loyalty and courtesy, to appear at the royal table. For a while he would join in the general conversation, soon to be withdrawn by his inward thoughts. Once, at dinner, after a long silence, he smote the table smartly, exclaiming, "That is an overwhelming argument against the Manichæans." His superior bade him remember that he was in the king's presence. Thomas apologised for his absence of mind. But the king, smiling, requested him to dictate to one of his secretaries the argument which had engrossed his attention, that it might lose none of the force which marks the thoughts of genius at their first conception.

The Dominican Chapter, held at Valenciennes, in 1259, appointed Thomas, Albertus Magnus, and Pierre de Tarentaise as a commission to establish order and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans.

Alexander IV. died at Viterbo, on May 25th, 1261. Jacques Pantalèon, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who was at Viterbo imploring protection for the Christians of the East, was, to his surprise, raised to the pontifical throne, under the title of Urban IV. Wishing to unite into one the divided portions of east and west Christianity, he summoned S. Thomas to Rome to help him in realising his project. It was in the same year that S. Thomas came to Rome in answer to this appeal. His general gave him at once a chair of theology in the Dominican college at Rome, where he obtained the like success that had gained at Cologne and Paris. Here he wrote his literal commentary on Job, and the Catena Aurea. The chain of comments from the fathers is so perfect, the links of gold in it are so well rivetted to one another, that a biographer says that, "He speaks with all, and all speak and explain themselves by him." It was dedicated to the Pope, at whose solicitation it had been undertaken.

In the midst of the toil these works must have cost him, he did not forget the purpose for which he was summoned. All the time he was thinking out and penning his treatise, "Contra errores Græcorum." In his hands, and by the force of his irresistible logic, he showed that the ancient Greek fathers unanimously agreed with those of the Latin Church.33

This work was sent by the pope at once to Michael, emperor of Constantinople, as a message of peace. He had just returned to his capital, which Latin princes had held for more than half a century. The object of all his efforts was to reconstitute the power of the empire. To this task he brought an energy, a perseverance, and talents hitherto unknown among the sovereigns of that nation. He turned his eyes for help towards the pope; but it was the politician, rather than the Christian, that solicited the re-establishment of Catholic unity.

S. Thomas, at the request of an Eastern prince, wrote a treatise in refutation of the errors that were rife in that part of the world. Nothing could be more modest than the way in which he stated his purpose, nothing more grand than the way in which he worked it out.

Urban wished to reward his distinguished services. The great wealth he offered, the saint directed should be given to the poor. He declined the offer of the patriarchate of Jerusalem, and, shortly after, the honour of a cardinal's hat, for Thomas had thoroughly realized both the mysterious treasures of voluntary poverty and the hidden force of evangelical humility.

The pope, finding he could not attach our saint to his court by the ties of honours or riches, bade him lecture at the various places where he took up his abode, Viterbo, Orvieto, Perugia, Fondi. Everywhere a prodigious number of pupils pressed around his chair. The churches were too small to receive the numbers who flocked to hear him. Historians only record one course of Lent sermons preached by him in Rome.

One Christmas-eve he held a disputation with two Jewish Rabbis at the villa of a cardinal. After asking them to return in the morning, he passed the whole night in meditation and prayer. The Rabbis returned in the morning, but it was to ask for baptism.

In 1263, Thomas was sent to the Dominican general chapter, held in London, as "definitor," in the name of the Roman province.

Soon after his return to Italy, S. Thomas proposed to Urban the institution of a special festival throughout the Catholic Church in honour of the Holy Sacrament. When Urban was archdeacon of Liége, in the convent of Mont Cornillon, near one of the gates of the city, a poor religious named Juliana (April 3rd), as she prayed had a vision of the moon shining in all its splendour, but disfigured by one little breach. She desired to know its meaning, and an inner voice told her it was the Church, and that the breach represented the defect of a festival in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. After a time, an office in honour of the Blessed Sacrament was drawn up by a young religious. Robert de Torote, bishop of Liége, in 1246, appointed Thursday, in the octave of Trinity, for this feast.

Henry of Gueldres succeeded him as bishop, and treated the revelations of Juliana as folly. She died on 5th April, 1258, and left as a legacy to her friend Eve the duty of reviving this festival. Eve was a recluse built up in a niche of a wall near the church of S. Martin, at Liége, and through the hole by which she received light, air, and alms, besought the canons as they passed to seek out the bishop and entreat him to write to the pope on the subject of the proposed festival. The bishop did not disdain this humble prayer, but transmitted her message to the pope, who received at the same time the petition of the first doctor in the Church to the same effect. He wrote a letter to the poor recluse of S. Martin, in 1264, telling her of the issuing of a bull in answer to her prayer, and transmitting a copy of the office which the Angelical doctor had drawn up.

Clement IV. succeeded Urban on the 22nd of February, 1265. Shortly after his elevation he issued a bull appointing S. Thomas archbishop of Naples, and conferring on him the revenues of the convent of S. Peter ad Aram. But the pope was induced to recall it by the prayers and tears of our saint.

In this year we must place the first commencement of the "Summa Theologiæ." This was the greatest monument produced by that age.

Disgusted, as S. Thomas says in his preface, at the exuberance, the disorder, the obscurity of the scholastic treatises then extant, he had conceived the plan of a methodical and luminous summary, which should contain the whole of Christianity from the existence of God to the least precept of morality, all the speculative and practical points of revealed truth following in natural and logical order.

The saying current at the time, that "some proposition was true according to the master, Aristotle, but false according to the Gospel," clearly shows the antagonistic attitude occupied by the two powers in the opinion of the schools.

The "Summa Theologiæ" is divided into three great but unequal parts; for the second, much larger than the other two, is divided into two distinct sections.

The first part is a complete treatise on all existences, and especially on all intellectual existences, from that intelligence which is infinite in its nature as in its operations, to the intelligence which is bounded and severed by matter. It treats of God, of the Holy Angels, their qualities, and their abode, and of the Creation.

The first section of the second part contains a theory of man. It treats of happiness, as man's final object, of the passions, and of human acts, of the virtues in general, of sins, in their origin, nature, and effects.

The second section is closely allied to the first. It treats of the conditions of happiness and the moral laws, the three great virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity. The impulse given to the soul by these three theological virtues communicates itself to the moral virtues as well; in treating of them afresh S. Thomas forms a universal theory of human duty.

The third part expounds the whole plan of Redemption. After having studied the work of Redemption in itself, S. Thomas studies it in its application to each individual. Thus he arrives at the theory of the Sacraments. But death did not give him time to finish this part of the work. It is interrupted where he treats on the fourth Sacrament, that of penance. An attempt has been made to complete it by various extracts from his other works, but one misses in this compilation the living hand of genius.

Before quitting this great subject, one word must be added on S. Thomas's method. It may be defined as geometry applied to theology. S. Thomas states, first of all, the theorem he is about to develop, or the problem which he proposes to solve. Then he considers the difficulties and solves them. He follows this up with a train of sustentations drawn from holy writ, tradition, and theological reason, and he ends by a categorical answer to all the objections which were made at the beginning. This order is invariably observed in every part of the work.

At the Council of Trent, on a table set in the midst of the council chamber, was placed the "Summa," alongside of the Holy Scriptures and the decrees of the popes. Well might Dante declare that the doctor inhabits a sphere above the reach of praise, or, with Lacordaire, exclaim, that "God alone can praise this great man in the eternal council of the Saints."

The "Summa Theologiæ" occupied the last nine years of our saint's life. The world was ignorant of the monument which was being raised in silence. Thomas preached, lectured, wrote as before.

About this time William of S. Amour republished his attack upon the religious orders, under the fresh title of "Collectiones S. Scripturæ;" our saint replied to it by issuing a fresh edition of his defence of the religious orders, and this silenced his foe.

During these nine years, Thomas visited several towns and convents of Italy. At Milan he wrote an epitaph on S. Peter Martyr. At Bologna he lectured with his usual success on theology.

In 1267, he published at Bologna a work on the duties of kings, but his task was interrupted in the same year by the death of his royal pupil, Hugo II., king of Cyprus.

Jean de Verceil had just sent to Thomas a famous tract in which the efficaciousness of the sacrament of penance was denied. He refuted it in a treatise called "De forma Absolutionis," with so much force and clearness that the Council of Trent adopted his very words in framing their canon.

About this time he was one day walking in the cloister of the convent at Bologna, plunged in deep meditation, when a lay brother, who did not know him, came up to him and said that he was obliged to go out on some matters of business, and that the superior had given him leave to take with him the first religious he met. S. Thomas, without excusing himself on the score of lameness from which he was then suffering, or of more serious engagements, went cheerfully with the lay brother; but the latter walked so fast, that Thomas was often left behind. But he was soon recognised, and the escort of citizens who respectfully followed the saint, opened the eyes of the lay brother. When they returned to the convent, the lay brother threw himself at the feet of Thomas and begged his pardon. Thomas raised him from the ground, saying, "It is not your duty, but mine to make an apology; for I ought to have remembered that my sore leg would not let me walk as fast as you wanted."