St. Thomas Aquinas

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, and we have been celebrating for a variety of reasons. I knew about St. Thomas from a young age, under the influence of one of my aunts, who taught at a Dominican school and gave Mom our homeschooling curriculum. The first book I ever read about him was by Raïssa Maritain, a Russian born convert who lived in Paris. Her conversation story is fascinating, and maybe I’ll do a book review of her autobiography in the upcoming weeks of March.

St. Thomas is the Patron Saint of Catholic Schools, a Doctor of the Church who has earned the additional titles “Common Doctor” and “Angelic Doctor”, and he was given the nickname “The Dumb Ox”, which St. Albert foretold would one day “bellow throughout the world”. Born into a noble family who wanted him to become the wealthy* Benedictine Abbot of Monte Casino, he instead became a monk of the young mendicant, or begging, order of Dominicans. He is known for his Summa Theologica, a summary of theology meant for the everyday Catholic, not necessarily for a scholar.

I learned how to celebrate his feast day with games, feasting, and a High Sung Mass as I went to school at St. Dominic’s in Post Falls. Even as one year we had to bound through a foot of snow to get from one “station” to the next, we had a lot of fun celebrating our Patron Saint as honorary Dominicans (a legacy that continues through my life having attended one of their schools and taught at another).

This year is special as Peanut has entered her first year of school, and St. Thomas is now one of her Patron Saints as well. I prepared her for today starting on Monday, and yesterday as I went food shopping I got some treats to celebrate, including strawberries and chocolate milk for breakfast. For lunch she’ll be getting some chocolate Belgian cookies, and at dinner we’ll have a dessert as well, maybe cheesecake. I’ve already celebrated with some delicious cheesy scrambled eggs and bacon (no sugar added), and I’ve reviewed Raïssa Maritain’s book with a view to reading some passages from it to Peanut. 

I hope that everyone is able to celebrate today with enthusiasm and joy, even if it’s only joy that the Lenten strictness is for a day suspended. I’m continuing with the prayer and almsgiving parts of my resolutions, because St. Thomas would have it no other way.

“Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, prince of theologians and model of philosophers, bright ornament of the Christian world, light of the Church and patron of all Catholic schools, who didst learn wisdom without guile and dost communicate it without envy, pray for us to the Son of God, who is Wisdom itself, that by the coming of the Spirit of Wisdom upon us, we may clearly understand that which thou dost teach, and by imitating thee, may bring to completion that with thou didst do; that we may be made partakers both of thy doctrine and thy holiness; whereby thou didst shine on earth even as the sun; and finally, that we may enjoy with thee in Heaven forever more, the most delectable fruits of the same, praising together with thee Divine Wisdom through endless ages. Amen.

*This is not to say that at the time the Benedictines themselves were wealthy, but that as an established Order, they had benefactors which enabled them in their various callings as teachers, “innkeepers”, and healers. Most religious orders both in the Medieval Ages and continuing on to this day take vows of holy poverty, so that nothing belongs to them alone.