Series on Saint Thomas Aquinas

Adapted from a Bulletin series for the Churches of Saint Vincent Ferrer and Saint Catherine Siena in New York City

by Fr. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P.

Dominicans not Thominicans

We are Dominicans, not Thominicans.  Since I entered the Dominican Order, I’ve been astounded as to how many people have thought that St. Thomas Aquinas, rather than St. Dominic, founded the Dominicans.  Granted, most of these people have been in academic circles so their experience of the Dominican Order is likely through Thomism (the study of St. Thomas’s teachings).  They often jump from the idea that Dominicans are well versed in the thought of St. Thomas, to the idea that all Dominicans are Thomists, and then again, somehow, to the idea that St. Thomas must have founded the Dominican Order.

It is important to note, though, that St. Thomas was a Dominican rather than St. Dominic being a Thominican.  In other words, St. Thomas’s life and all that he offers to the Church is shaped by his Dominican life.  Through living the Dominican life, he became holy.  Through his fidelity to his vows and the life of prayer, study, and community, he was able to preach in a way that shaped the Church’s understanding of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, and the moral life.  It was from this very life, that St. Thomas not only grew close to the Lord but also has helped us grow close to Him.

St. Thomas is a beautiful example of how we can grow in holiness.  This is not to say that holiness is synonymous with being a brainiac.  Rather, the whole of St. Thomas’s virtuous living—how he lived, prayed, came to love God, and sought to share God with others—is exemplary for us.

[In this series} we are going to offer various ways to come to know St. Thomas, learn from his wisdom, and draw closer to the Lord through turning to him for his intercession and following his example. To understand St. Thomas’s impact on and import for the Church, it is helpful to know more about his life, how he prayed, and where his writings come from. May St. Thomas’s example and intercession not fail to guide nor to aid us on the path to holiness so that what he now beholds, we too, one day, may gaze upon for all eternity.

A Chaste Heart

As a nineteen or twenty-year-old, St. Thomas Aquinas had a completely transformational moment.  His parents, simultaneously recognizing his intellectual gifts and desiring to have a greater honor to their family name, had sent him to the famous Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino at the age of five, hoping that one day he would become the abbot.  As he got older, he went to study in Naples, and there he met the Dominicans.  Seeing how these Dominican friars lived out religious life opened the door of his heart, and he became desirous to join the Friars Preachers.  His family wasn’t pleased, to say the least, and as he was traveling from Naples to Rome, his brothers kidnapped him, locked him in the tower of a family castle, and tried to break his vow of chastity by sending a loose woman to him.  God’s grace was stronger than their fetters, though, and Thomas drove the woman from his room with a flaming log from the fireplace.  As the tradition has it, after that moment, two angels came and girded him with a cincture of purity.  From that moment on, Thomas never struggled with chastity again.

A Dedicated Heart

While some Dominicans might think that my next sentence is bold, I feel confident to stand behind it.  That moment was one of the most important in the whole of St. Thomas’s life.  On the one hand, it did lead to the development of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity and the means of grace that that has been for the life of the Church.  On the other hand, and possibly more importantly, it also led to a deep wisdom and intellectual clarity.  This is because, as St. Thomas so keenly noted again and again, the temptations of lust affect the mind more powerfully than other sensual temptations.  They inhibit the use of reason, which gets preoccupied and overcome by the passions.  Yet, for St. Thomas, without his mind being drawn away to the pleasures of the flesh, his use of reason was far more perceptive of the things of heaven.  In turn, this led St. Thomas to have an intellectual clarity about the most important things, such as the Eucharist.

     This isn’t just about intellectual prowess though.  This also reveals a heart that can be dedicated to one thing and to one thing only: God Himself.  This moment in which Thomas sought to defend his vocation and the purity of his heart actually became the moment that cemented his vocation and made his heart adamantine in his love for the Lord.  In other words, because he went to such great lengths to cultivate the virtue of chastity and because of the depth of God’s grace, it become the foundation for living out the vow throughout the whole of his life and having a heart that was entirely dedicated to the Lord.  In a sense, then, you could say that this was a pivotal moment for his vocation that catapulted him into the heart of religious life, namely, to offer oneself fully to God.

Our Dedicated Hearts

If we desire to grow in purity, then we can turn to St. Thomas.  If we desire to grow in our understanding of the truth, then we can turn to St. Thomas.  His example and his intercession can be a powerful means to help us break free from both sins of the flesh and sins of the mind.