3. His Life !
• Son of Landulph, the Count of Aquino, Saint Thomas Aquinas was born in
Lombardy at his family's castle in Naples, Italy.He had eight siblings, and was the
youngest child. His mother’s name was Theodora.They were considered a family of
a certain nobility.
• Before St. Thomas Aquinas was born, someone shared a prediction with St.
Thomas Aquinas' mother, telling her that he would enter the Order of Friars
Preachers and become a great learner.
• St. Thomas Aquinas was sent to the Abbey of Monte Cassino when he was just five
years old.
• St. Thomas Aquinas remained at the abbey until he was 13 years old, at which
time the political climate forced him to return to Naples.
4. His studies !
• Saint Thomas Aquinas devoted himself to a life of traveling, writing, teaching, and
public speaking. He wanted to reconcile the relationship between theology (faith)
and philosophy (reason). People were weren’t convinced of to how to unite the
knowledge they obtained through revelation with the information they observed
naturally using their mind and their senses. In fact the two types of knowledge
were in direct opposition to each other. But Thomas Aquinas had always said that
“both kinds of knowledge ultimately come from God” and so they were
compatible. Not only were they compatible..but they could also work in
collaboration.
5. His works !
• There are 60 very well known works of his. Handwritten copies of his works were
distributed to libraries across Europe. His philosophical and theological
writingshad different topics, including commentaries on the Bible and discussions
of Aristotele’s writings on Natural Philosophy.
• Universities and colleges came to replace Lombard's Four Books of Sentences with
his Summa Theologica as the leading theology textbook.
• The influence of St. Thomas Aquinas' writing is famous all over the world and in
fact, there are 6,000 commentaries on his work exist to date.
6. Later life and death !
• In 1273, Saint Thomas Aquinas had a mystical vision that made writing seem
unimportant to him.
• When St. Thomas Aquinas' confessor urged him to keep writing, Aquinas replied, “I
can do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now
appears to be of little value.” St. Thomas Aquinas never wrote again.
• In 1274, St. Thomas Aquinas left for Lyon France by foot but never made it there.
Along the way he felt ill at Fossanova in Italy. The people there wanted St. Thomas
Aquinas to stay at the castle, but, sensing his death was near, Aquinas preferred to
remain at the monastery.
• “The Universal Teacher” died at the monastery of Fossanova on March 7, 1274.