Saint Thomas used his intelligence to give a solid philosophical foundation to Catholic doctrine, promoting the thought that reason and faith can indeed go together.
Newsoom (28/01/2022 08:41, Gaudium Press) Today, 28 January, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church. His theological studies have earned him the title of “Angelic Doctor”.
Born in 1225, Thomas Aquinas joined the Dominican Order and used his intelligence to give a solid philosophical foundation to Catholic doctrine, promoting the thought that reason and faith can walk together.
His masterpiece is the famous Summa Theologica. Saint Thomas is the patron saint of Catholic schools, theologians and booksellers. Check out some of his wise teachings in the collection of phrases below:
01 – “Teachers must be elevated in their lives, so that they enlighten the faithful with their preaching, illustrate students with their teaching, and defend the faith by their disputes against error.”
02 – “The scholar is the one who brings to others what he has understood: the Truth”.
03 – “To reject a single article taught by the Church is enough to destroy faith, just as a mortal sin is enough to destroy charity”.
04 – “Give me, Lord, sharpness to understand, capacity to retain, method and faculty to learn, subtlety to interpret, grace and abundance to speak. Give me, Lord, correctness in beginning, direction in progressing, and perfection in concluding.
05 – “I hope I have never taught any truth that I have not learned from You. If, through ignorance, I have done otherwise, I revoke everything and submit all my writings to the judgment of the Holy Roman Church”.
06 – “Not to oppose error is to approve of it, not to defend the truth is to deny it.
07 – “There is nothing in the intellect which has not first passed through the senses”.
08 – “An individual, living in society, constitutes in a certain way a part or a member of this society. Therefore, he who does something for the good or evil of one of its members affects the whole of society”.
09 – “Three things are necessary for man’s salvation: to know what he must believe, to know what he must desire, to know what he must do”.
10. “I pray to God as if I expected everything from Him, but I work as if I expected everything from myself.
11 – “To create us, God chose us; to save us, we must choose God”.
12 – “Envy is a sorrow for the glory of another”.
13 – “If man recognized the mystery of the Holy Mass, in which God gives his Body and Blood in sacrifice for men, he would die of love”.
14 – “A good intention does not justify doing something evil”.
15 – “Humility makes man capable of God”. (EPC)