§ 108. THOMAS AQUINAS. 661
Lehre d. hi. Th. v. Aq. v. d. Kirche als Gottcswerk, Regensb., 1903.— J. GOTTLER : D. hi. Th. v. Aq. u. d. vortridentin. Thomisten ub. d. Wirkgn. d. Busssakramentes, 1904. — STOCKL : Philos. d. Mittelalters, II. 421-728. The Histt. ofDoctr. of Sen WANE, HARNACK, 111. 422-428, etc., and Loofs, pp. 284-304. — LANE-POOLE : Illustrations, etc., pp.226 sqq. — BAUR : D. Christl. Kirche des M. A., 312-354. — The art. in Wetzer-Welte, XI. 1626- 1661. — T. O'GORMAN : Life and Works of St. Th. Aq. in Papers of Am. Hoc. of Ch.Hist., 1893, pp. 81-97. — D. S. SCHAFP : Th. Aq. and Leo XIII. in Princeton Rev., 1904, pp. 177-196. — Art. Th. Aq. and Med. Thought, in Dubl. Rev., Jan., 1906.
In an altar piece by Traini, dating from 1341, in the church of St. Caterina, Pisa, Thomas Aquinas is represented as seated in the centre with a book open before him. At the top of the cloth the artist has placed Christ, on one side of him Matthew, Luke, and Paul and on the other, Moses, John, and Mark. Below Thomas Aquinas, and on the left side, Aristotle is represented standing and facing Thomas. Aris totle holds an open volume which is turned towards the cen tral figure. On the right hand Plato is represented, also stand ing and facing Thomas with an open volume. At the foot of the cloth there are three groups. One at each corner con sists of monks looking up admiringly at Thomas. Between them, Averrhoes is represented reclining and holding a closed book. This remarkable piece of art represents with accuracy the central place which has been accorded to Thomas Aquinas in the mediaeval theology. Arabic philosophy closes its mission now that the great exponent of Christian theology has come. The two chief philosophers of the un aided reason offer to him the results of their speculations and do him homage. The body of monks admire him, and Christ, as it were, commends him.
Thomas Aquinas, called the Angelic doctor, — doctor angelicus, — 1225-1274, is the prince of the Schoolmen, and next to St. Augustine, the most eminent divine of the Latin Church. He was a man of rare genius, wisdom, and purity of life. He had an unrivalled power of orderly and vigorous state ment. Under his hand the Scholastic doctrines were organ ized into a complete and final system. He expounded them with transparent clearness, and fortified them with powerful
662 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
arguments derived from Scripture, tradition, and reason. Mystical piety and a sound intellect were united in him. As compared with many of the other Schoolmen, notably with Duns Scotus, Thomas was practical rather than speculative. Popes and councils have repeatedly acknowledged his au thority as a teacher of Catholic theology. Thomas was can onized by John XXII., 1323, and raised to the dignity of " doctor of the church," 1567. In 1879, Leo XIII. com mended him as the corypheus and prince of all the School men, and as the safest guide of Christian philosophy in the battle of faith and reason against the sceptical and revolu tionary tendencies of the nineteenth century,1 who "set to rest once for all the discord between faith and reason, exalt ing the dignity of each and yet keeping them in friendly alliance." In 1880 this pope pronounced him the patron of Catholic schools. In the teachings of Thomas Aquinas we have, with one or two exceptions, the doctrinal tenets of the Latin Church in their perfect exposition as we have them in the Decrees of the council of Trent in their final statement.
Thomas of Aquino was born about 1225 in the castle of Rocca Sicca — now in ruins — near Aquino in the territory of Naples. Through his father, the count of Aquino, he was descended from a princely house of Lombardy. His mother was of Norman blood and granddaughter of the fa mous Crusader Tancred. At five the boy was sent to the neighboring convent of Monte Cassino from which he passed to the University of Naples. In 1243 he entered the Dominican order, a step his family resented. His brothers who were serving in the army of Frederick II. took the nov ice by force and kept him under guard in the paternal castle for more than a year. Thomas employed the time of his
1 Encyclical, Aug. 4, 1879. See text in Mirbt, pp. 391 sqq. Thomas is praised as "inter scholasticos doctores omnium princeps et magister . . . ingenio docilis et acer, memories facilis et tenax, vitce integerrimus, veritatis, unice amator, divina humanaque scientia prcedives." The preface to the papal edition attacks the Lutheriana pestis and the Lutherianum virus, which are to be counteracted by the works of Thomas in cujus limpidissima et an gelica mente veritas divinitus noUs patefacta. See Schaff, Thos. Aq. and Leo. XIIL, p. 179.