St. Thomas of Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.)
St.
Thomas, considering the Aristotelean idea, writes: “Sapientia est
scientia quae considerat causas primas et universales causas; sapientia
causas primas omnium causarum considerat”—Wisdom [i.e. philosophy] is
the science which considers first and universal causes; wisdom
considers the first causes of all causes,” (Metaphysics I, Lecture ii).
Thomas Aquinas lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the Aristotelian Corpus
was being translated into Latin, bringing the question of faith versus
reason into the dialogue of the philosophers. Thomas was born in 1225
A.D. at Roccasecca, a hilltop castle from which the great Benedictine
abbey of Montecassino located midway between Rome and Naples. At the
age of five, he was put in the abbey, still in Montecassino. Battles
broke out at the location and Thomas was removed by his family to the
University of Naples. In Naples, Thomas made contact with the
philosophy of Aristotle and the Dominicans. Becoming a Dominican he
traveled to Paris to study and then off to Cologne and studied with
Albert the Great. Thomas then went back to Paris, to become a Master,
and sat in one of the Dominican chairs in the Faculty of Theology. He
lived in various places in Italy, including the papal court and
Dominican house. He was called back to Paris to debate Latin Averroism
and Heterodox Aristotelianism for the next three years before returning
to Naples in 1274. Early in this year, while on his way to the Council
of Lyon, he became ill and died on March 7th at the Cistercian abbey at
Fossanova.