Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274)

An indefatigable student, teacher, and writer, St. Thomas Aquinas was the greatest Christian theologian of the Middle Ages. He was born at Roccasecca, Italy, as the youngest son of Count Landolfo of Aquino and Countess Teodora of Teano. At age five, he began his studies at the Benedictine monastery in Monte Cassino. From there, he went on to study at the University of Naples and, over the objections of his family, became a Dominican friar in 1244. He continued his studies in philosophy and theology at Paris and then, from 1248 to 1252, at Cologne with Albert the Great. After further study and teaching at the University of Paris, he returned to Italy in 1259 and spent nearly ten years teaching and working at Dominican monasteries near Rome.

Back at the University of Paris in 1268, he became embroiled in arguments with clerics and theologians who opposed his philosophical positions. He returned to Italy in 1272 and taught for one year at the University of Naples before declining health forced him to quit teaching in 1273. While in route to a church council in Lyon, he fell gravely ill and died not far from the town of his birth early in 1274. He was declared a saint by Pope John XXII in 1323, pronounced the “Angelic Doctor” by Pope Pius V in 1567, and named Patron of Catholic Schools by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.