Catholics today often lack elementary notions about their religion. Some do not even know why they belong to it. They do not realize that their Church is a divine institution, founded more than two thousand years ago by the Incarnate Word, and that it is accompanied by a promise of immortality. For her, martyrs have given their lives, priests and simple laymen have fought to the death, doctors have spent their existence in the study and development of her doctrine.
Perhaps this ignorance of the grandeur of the Church is due to the fact that her greatest treasures remain invisible to most of the faithful. In fact, in two millennia she has acquired, by insights into the truths of the Faith revealed by God, riches incomparably more valuable than all the material treasures that adorn her cathedrals around the world.
Such riches make her the Mother and Teacher of the truth not only for a people, but for the whole of humanity. And, therefore, she is a Church of a universal, Catholic character.
Throughout the centuries, she has remained immaculate and faithful in preaching the truth, despite appearances sometimes suggesting otherwise. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she has always begotten sons and daughters who, contrary to the expectations of the powers of darkness, have shone forth like veritable suns of sanctity, pointing out to man, by doctrine and example, the true path to follow.
Among these luminaries, St. Thomas Aquinas stands out for his crystal-clear logic.
The medieval world
With the passing of the centuries, the Christian faith, struggling and victorious, gave rise to an era of spiritual blessings in which humanity lived with the Church in the centre and was nourished by her teaching, reaching a level of theological development never before seen: the Middle Ages.
In the world in which we live, it is difficult to have a sense of what that historical period truly was. The words of Leo XIII are eloquent in describing it: “There was once a time when States were governed by the philosophy of the Gospel. Then it was that the power and divine virtue of Christian wisdom had diffused itself throughout the laws, institutions, and morals of the people, permeating all ranks and relations of civil society. […] The State, constituted in this wise, bore fruits important beyond all expectation, whose remembrance is still, and always will be, in renown, witnessed to as they are by countless proofs which can never be blotted out or ever obscured by any craft of any enemies.”1
For this era, in which schools and universities flourished with immense vigour, faith was the basis of its intellectual work. Teaching continued to rely on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, but at the same time it sought to continually scrutinize Revelation in order to arrive at new and unprecedented conclusions.
Theology, “queen of the sciences”, saw its handmaid, philosophy, assume an increasing importance. As to what theology taught Christians, in general all were in agreement. However, the relationship between faith and reason was questioned. Should the latter help the former, or vice versa? What role would philosophy have in Christian thought? Such problems, from very early on, had to be faced by medieval thinkers.
Christian Aristotelianism
From the time of the Church Fathers, Christian philosophy had been eminently Platonic. Aristotelianism, with its realism and rationalist methods, was little known. This was largely due to the fact that the Stagirite’s writings had reached the West through translations from Arabic to Latin, with not a few errors and false interpretations. Suffice it to say that, according to some of these versions, God was not the creator of the universe…
The controversy reached such a point of tension that, in 1210, a Parisian council even excommunicated the Aristotelians. The situation, however, would change with Gregory IX, and soon Aristotelian philosophy would gain citizenship in the Christian world.
The first theologian who employed the body of Aristotelian philosophy to support his theological doctrine was the founder of the Franciscan school, Alexander of Hales. More original and even more profound was the Dominican St. Albert the Great, for whom reason had not only the right but also the duty to prove what is demonstrable about faith, and whose aim was to make Aristotle’s teachings accessible to Latin speakers, incorporating into Western culture the vast scientific heritage that the Arab world had preserved and augmented.2
Nevertheless, the final word would belong to the man who would mark posterity with his doctrine and become the central axis of Christian thought, in a proper balance between reason and faith: St. Thomas Aquinas.
Thomistic synthesis of faith and reason
For the Angelic Doctor, philosophy was of great service to theology, since it allowed him to demonstrate some presuppositions of faith that were accessible to natural reason, such as the existence and oneness of God, as well as to illustrate, by means of opportune similitudes, certain truths of faith and to rationally refute the arguments that opposed them.3 He realized that Aristotelianism, purified of the erroneous interpretations of the Arabs, could provide theology with a much more solid foundation than that of Platonic Augustinianism.
Having studied with St. Albert the Great in Paris and Cologne, St. Thomas went beyond his master’s enterprise and used Aristotelianism to synthesize ancient philosophy and Christian dogma. One of the greatest philosophical and theological works of all time was born.
A friendly dialogue between faith and reason, where one assists the other, became one of the most distinctive notes of Aquinas’ thought. This is what Benedict XVI commented in a general audience in 2010: “are the world of rationality – philosophy conceived of without Christ – and the world of faith compatible? Or are they mutually exclusive? […] St. Thomas was thoroughly convinced that they were compatible – indeed, it was as if philosophy, elaborated apart from the knowledge of Christ, was awaiting the light of Jesus to become whole. This was the great ‘surprise’ of St. Thomas that sets the course for his journey as a thinker. To show the independence of philosophy and theology and, at the same time, to show their interrelatedness was the historic mission of this great thinker.”4 Among his most renowned writings is, for example, the Summa contra Gentiles, in which he rationally demonstrates the reasons for believing, for those who do not have faith.
But the activity of St. Thomas was not confined to his masterful synthesis of faith and reason. His incomparable theological work – of which the Summa Theologica is without doubt the greatest expression – based on a philosophy that he himself had “purified”, rendered to the Holy Church a very important, if not indispensable, contribution.
Luminary of the Holy Church
In building considerations on a man of such magnitude and his influence in the history of the Church, we run the risk of falling far short of reality… Indeed, the chances of analysing a person superficially are proportional to the magnitude of the figure being contemplated.
If we but limit ourselves to observing how the life and work of Aquinas was considered by successive Pontiffs, it will be enough to for us to realize that we are not dealing with just any man.
“He [alone],” John XXII assures us, “has enlightened the Church more than all the other Doctors; in one year more is gained by reading his writings, than by studying the doctrine of others during the a whole lifetime.”5 Innocent VI, for his part, went so far as to say of the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor: “those who hold to it are never found swerving from the path of truth, and he who dare assail it will always be suspected of error.”6
With Leo XIII and his encyclical Æterni Patris, Aquinas would receive the highest praise. The document sets out why Thomistic teaching is in close accord with the Magisterium of the Church, and should be adopted as the official guide for philosophical and theological studies. For this reason, St. Thomas has been declared the Patron of Catholic schools and universities.
For this Pontiff, the teachings of the Angelic Doctor are by no means restricted to the Dominican family: “It is known that nearly all the founders and lawgivers of the religious orders commanded their members to study and religiously adhere to the teachings of St. Thomas, fearful least any of them should swerve even in the slightest degree from the footsteps of so great a man.”7 Leo XIII goes further and finds in the teaching of St. Thomas the solution to the evils of civil and family society, which “would certainly enjoy a far more peaceful and secure existence if a more wholesome doctrine were taught in the universities and high schools – one more in conformity with the teaching of the Church, such as is contained in the works of Thomas Aquinas.”8
Twentieth-century Popes are also prolix in praising the wisdom of the Saint of Aquino. For Paul VI, St. Thomas “was undoubtedly very bold in pursuit of the truth. He showed great liberty of spirit in dealing with new questions and the intellectual honesty characteristic of those who, while not permitting any contamination of Christian truth by a secularist philosophy, refuse to reject such philosophies a priori and without examination.” Thus, the Angelic Doctor knew how to harmonize the world’s secularity with the radicality of Christ’s Gospel, and he “avoided the unnatural tendency to despise the world and its values, while at the same time not betraying in any way the basic, inflexible principles governing the supernatural order.”9
John Paul II, for his part, stressed the relevance of Thomistic thought in the encyclical Fides et Ratio, of September 14, 1998, recalling that Aquinas has consistently been proposed by the Church as “a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology.”10 In this document, the Polish Pope bestows upon the Saint the admirable title “apostle of the truth”.11
In addition to individual Popes, different ecumenical Councils also regarded his doctrine as a true bulwark of orthodoxy: “In the Councils of Lyons, Vienna, Florence, and the Vatican [I] one might almost say that Thomas took part and presided over the deliberations and decrees of the Fathers.”12 At the Council of Trent, next to the books that presided over the sessions on the altar – the Sacred Scriptures and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs – was the Saint’s celebrated Summa Theologica. What greater witness of approval could be given to his magnum opus? More recently, the Second Vatican Council strongly recommended Thomistic thought in two documents: Optatam totius and Gravissimum educationis. And Benedict XVI13 noted the importance the Church conferred on the Angelic Doctor by quoting him sixty-one times in its catechism.
Finally, it is worth remembering that the theological doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas became “law of the Church” when the new Code of Canon Law14 showed a categorical preference for this Doctor’s teachings in the formation of clerics.
To those seeking the truth
One of the characteristic and even essential notes of the elaboration of St. Thomas’ thought is his conviction of the unicity of truth: God is the Absolute Truth and all the other truths that exist scattered throughout the universe are derived from this first and essential source.
Many centuries have passed since the Angelic Doctor’s death, during which the world has been changing. In today’s society, where relativism reigns, the famous question of Pontius Pilate is becoming ever more frequent: “What is truth?” (Jn 18: 38). More than just ignoring it, people have refused to look for it where it really is.
How many new philosophies have arisen as “stumbling blocks”! How many lifestyles divergent from the Gospel! How many thinkers, in the name of a presumptuous and false progress of reason, have distorted the one immutable truth! Allowing the confusion of minds to penetrate into the sacred precincts, how many culpable teachers have disfigured and continue to disfigure the Church’s immaculate doctrine, perturbing and scandalizing the little ones!
In view of the recognition given by the Mystical Spouse of Christ to the doctrine that St. Thomas bequeathed to her, to the point of seeing it as a sure reference in theological matters and proposing more than once that it be taught with all diligence, a question arises: isn’t disputing and belittling genuine Thomistic teaching tantamount to fighting Church doctrine and, even more, the very “mentality” of the Church?
Seven centuries after the canonization of one of the greatest luminaries of Christianity, we have never been so needful of his teachings!
If we are among those who really want the truth to reign, Catholic truth, the only and immutable truth of all time, why do we not have recourse to the teaching and the valuable intercession of St. Thomas? Paraphrasing the biblical passage (cf. Gn 41:55), we have only to recommend in all propriety: “Go to Thomas!” For all authentic friends of wisdom, those who live on truth and for truth, this great Saint has been and will always be an incomparable point of reference. ◊
Notes
1 LEO XIII. Immortale Dei, n.28. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1960, p.15.
2 Cf. SÁNCHEZ HERRERO, José. Historia de la Iglesia. II: Edad Media. Madrid: BAC, 2005, p.406-407.
3 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Super De Trinitate. Prœmium, q.2, a.3.
4 BENEDICT XVI. General Audience, 16/6/2010.
5 JOHN XXII, apud BERTHIER, OP, J. J. Sanctus Thomas Aquinas. “Doctor Communis” Ecclesiæ. Romæ: Editrice Nazionale, 1914, p.45.
6 INNOCENT VI, apud LEO XIII. Æterni Patris.
7 LEO XIII. Æterni Patris.
8 Idem, ibidem.
9 ST. PAUL VI. Lumen ecclesiæ, n.8.
10 ST. JOHN PAUL II. Fides et ratio, n.43.
11 Idem, n.44.
12 LEO XIII. Æterni Patris.
13 Cf. BENEDICT XVI. General Audience, 2/6/2010.
14 Cf. CIC, c.252 §3.
