Saint Thomas Aquinas was an Italian of the Dominican Order, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. He lived from 1225 to 1275. Aquinas was a greatly influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis. The name Aquinas identifies his ancestral origins in the county of Aquino in present-day Lazio. Aquinas started school at the age of five at Monte Cassino School before his studies were... moreSaint Thomas Aquinas was an Italian of the Dominican Order, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. He lived from 1225 to 1275. Aquinas was a greatly influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis. The name Aquinas identifies his ancestral origins in the county of Aquino in present-day Lazio. Aquinas started school at the age of five at Monte Cassino School before his studies were discontinued as a result of the war between Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. He later continued his studies at a university in Naples where he was introduced to the work of philosophers: Aristotle, Averroes and Maimonides. He also studied arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music under Petrus de Ibernia. While in university, he decided to become a Dominican Friar. This was however against the wishes of his family. Further fights over his decision to join the Dominicans ensued and in 1245, he started study at the University of Paris. He afterwards studied for his masters at the same time practicing as an apprentice professor. He was given several important assignments by the Pope within the Church and in the academia from 1256 onwards.
Aquinas was a leading classical supporter of natural theology and was the father of Thomism of which he argued that reason is found in God. His influence on Western Philosophy is substantial, and much of modern philosophy builds upon or clashes with his ideas, chiefly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory. Unlike many Church leaders of his time, Aquinas accepted many ideas put forward by the philosopher Aristotle and tried to combine the philosophy of Aristotle with the ideologies of Christianity. Aquinas’ best-known accomplishments include the Disputed Questions on Truth (1256-59), the Summa contra Gentiles (1259-1265), and the Summa Theologiae (1265-1274). He made commentaries on biblical writings and on the teachings of Aristotle the commentaries which make up a central part of his body of work. Aquinas is well-known for his eucharistic hymns, which form a part of the Church's liturgy. He died on 7 March 1274, the cause of his death have been debated over the years.
