Thomas Aquinas

Philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas was born circa 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy. Combining the theological principles of faith with the philosophical principles of reason, he ranked among the most influential thinkers of medieval Scholasticism. An authority of the Roman Catholic Church and a prolific writer, Aquinas died on March 7, 1274, at the Cistercian monastery of Fossanova, near Terracina, Latium, Papal States, Italy (bio.com).

Who was Thomas Aquinas?

Biography: Thomas Aquinas was born in a hilltop castle in Roccasecca in central Italy in 1225. At the age of five, his studies began at the abbey of Montecassino. When the monastery became a battle site— Thomas was transferred by his family to the University of Naples. It was here that he came into contact with the "new" Aristotle and with the Order of Preachers or Dominicans, a recently founded mendicant order. He became a Dominican over the protests of his family and eventually went north to study, perhaps first briefly at Paris, then at Cologne with Albert the Great, whose interest in Aristotle strengthened Thomas's own interest. He returned to Paris, completed his studies, became a Master and for three years and occupied one of the Dominican chairs in the Faculty of Theology. The next ten years were spent in various places in Italy, with the mobile papal court, at various Dominican houses, and eventually in Rome. In 1274, on his way to the Council of Lyon, he fell ill and died in the Cistercian abbey at Fossanova, which is near Roccasecca (http://www.aquinas.emory.edu/).

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible."-Thomas AquinRead more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_aquinas.html#YzGfAswKhJLexKJi.99

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship."-Thomas AquinaRead more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_aquinas.html#YzGfAswKhJLexKJi.99

He was born in 1225,Roccasecca, Sicily, ItalyHe was a Dominican priest of the Catholic Church immensely influential as a philosopher and theologianHe was a prominent exponent of natural theology and the father of ThomismHe is best known for his works for the Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra GentilesHe died on 7 March 1274 in Fossanova, Sicily, Italy(http://5factsabout.com/)

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"The things that we love tell us what we are."-Thomas AquinasRead more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_aquinas.html#YzGfAswKhJLexKJi.99