St. Thomas Aquinas, March 7

[Bonaventure]

Prayer:

Ineffable Creator, Who out of the treasures of Thy wisdom hast appointed three hierarchies of Angels and set them in admirable order high above the heavens and hast disposed the divers portions of the universe in such marvelous array, Thou Who art called the True Source of Light and super-eminent Principle of Wisdom, be pleased to cast a beam of Thy radiance upon the darkness of my mind and dispel from me the double darkness of sin and ignorance in which I have been born.

Thou Who makest eloquent the tongues of little children, fashion my words and pour upon my lips the grace of Thy benediction. Grant me penetration to understand, capacity to retain, method and facility in study, subtlety in interpretation and abundant grace of expression.

Order the beginning, direct the progress and perfect the achievement of my work, Thou who art true God and Man and livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.

[Bonaventure]

Papal documents on St. Thomas:

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11STUDI.HTM - Pius XI

Please post more. I am reading that one. Aeterni Patris is another.

http://www.strobertbellarmine.net/books/d-The%20Authority%20of%20St.%20Thomas%20Aquinas.pdf

[tmw89]

In honor of the Common Doctor, check this out -- excellent editions of his texts, and the opportunity to help fund the publication of further volumes:  http://www.theaquinasinstitute.org/?page_id=105

[LouisIX]

http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/

[S.Casimir]

DEAREST JESUS! I know well that every perfect gift, and above all others that of chastity, depends upon the most powerful assistance of Thy Providence, and that without Thee a creature can do nothing. Therefore, I pray Thee to defend, with Thy grace, chastity and purity in my soul as well as in my body. And if I have ever received through my senses any impression that could stain my chastity and purity, do Thou, Who art the Supreme Lord of all my powers, take it from me, that I may with an immaculate heart advance in Thy love and service, offering myself chaste all the days of my life on the most pure altar of Thy Divinity. Amen. - Prayer for Purity by S. Thomas

Prayer to S. Thomas for the Members of the Angelic Warfare

Chosen lily of innocence, most chaste St. Thomas, thou who didst ever preserve thy baptismal robe unspotted, thou who wast by two angels girded, thou who wast thyself a true angel in the flesh, I entreat thee to recommend me to Jesus, the spotless lamb, and to Mary, the Queen of virgins, that wearing around my loins thy holy girdle which was granted to thee as a pledge of thy purity, and imitating thy virtues upon earth, I may one day be crowned with thee, O thou powerful protector of my innocence!

V. Pray for us, O St. Thomas
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us Pray:
O God, Who didst deign to arm us with the girdle of St. Thomas in the assaults made upon our innocence, grant to our earnest prayers, that we, under his heavenly protection, the impure enemy of our body and soul in this warfare may happily overcome; and adorned with the unfading lily of purity in the midst of the angelic host, may receive the palm of celestial bliss. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Non Nobis]

The Popes on St. Thomas

Note: The following is a compilation of various popes' comments regarding the importance of the works of St. Thomas Aquinas to Catholic education. It is excerpted and adapted from the essay The Formation of the Catholic Mind by the College's [Thomas Aquinas College's] founding president, Dr. Ronald P. McArthur [RIP].

What does the Church, to whom Christ has entrusted His concerns for us, teach concerning theological doctrines?

Pope John XXII  1. Pope John XXII, speaking about St. Thomas, said before his canonization that "his life was saintly and his doctrine could only be miraculous ... because he enlightened the church more than all the other doctors. By the use of his works a man could profit more in one year than if he studies the doctrine of others for his whole life."

Pope Pius V  2. St. Pius V declared him a Doctor of The Church, saying he was "the most brilliant light of the Church," whose works are "the most certain rule of Christian doctrine by which he enlightened the Apostolic Church in answering conclusively numberless errors ... which illumination has often been evident in the past and recently stood forth prominently in the decrees of the Council of Trent."

Pope Benedict XIII  3. Benedict XIII wrote to the Order of Preachers that they should "pursue with energy your Doctor's works, more brilliant than the sun and written without the shadow of error. These works made the Church illustrious with wonderful erudition, since they march ahead and proceed with unimpeded step, protecting and vindicating by the surest rule of Christian doctrine, the truth of our holy religion."

Pope Leo XIII  4. Leo XIII stated that "this is the greatest glory of Thomas, altogether his own and shared with no other Catholic Doctor, that the Fathers of Trent, in order to proceed in an orderly fashion during the conclave, desired to have opened upon the altar together with the Scriptures and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs, the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas whence they could draw counsel, reasons and answers."

Again from Leo XIII: "This point is vital, that Bishops expend every effort to see that young men destined to be the hope of the Church should be imbued with the holy and heavenly doctrine of the Angelic Doctor. In those places where young men have devoted themselves to the patronage and doctrine of St. Thomas, true wisdom will flourish, drawn as it is from solid principles and explained by reason in an orderly fashion ... Theology proceeding correctly and well according to the plan and method of Aquinas is in accordance with our command. Every day We become more clearly aware how powerfully Sacred Doctrine taught by its master and patron, Thomas, affords the greatest possible utility for both clergy and laity.

5. St. Pius X said that the chief of Leo's achievements is his restoration of the doctrine of St. Thomas. For he "restored the Angelic Doctor ... as the leader and master of theology, whose divine genius fashioned weapons marvelously suited to protect the truth and destroy the many errors of the times. Indeed those principles of wisdom, useful for all time, which the holy Doctors passed on to us, have been organized by no one more aptly than by Thomas, and no one has explained them more clearly." Indeed, Pius said, those who depart from the teaching of St. Thomas "seem to effect ultimately their withdrawal from the Church ... As we have said, one may not desert Aquinas, especially in philosophy and theology, without great harm; following him is the safest way to the knowledge of divine things.... If the doctrine of any other author or saint has ever been approved at any time by us or our predecessors with singular commendation joined with an invitation and order to propagate and to defend it, it may be easily understood that it was commended only insofar as it agreed with the principles of Aquinas or was in no way opposed to them." Theology professors "should also take particular care that their students develop a deep affection for the Summa ... In this way and no other will theology be restored to its pristine dignity, and the proper order and value will be restored to all sacred studies, and the province of the intellect and reason flower again in a second spring."

Pope Benedict XV  6. Benedict XV stated that "the eminent commendations of Thomas Aquinas by the Holy See no longer permit a Catholic to doubt that he was divinely raised up that the Church might have a master whose doctrine should be followed in a special way at all times."

Pope Piux XI  7. Pius XI said that "indeed, We so approve of the tributes paid to his almost divine brilliance that we believe Thomas should be called not only Angelic but Common or Universal Doctor of the Church. As innumerable documents of every kind attest, the Church has adopted his doctrine for her own.... It is no wonder that the Church has made this light her own and has adorned herself with it, and has illustrated her immortal doctrine with it ... It is no wonder that all the popes have vied with one another in exalting him, proposing him, inculcating him, as a model, master, doctor, patron and protector of all schools ... Just as it was said of old to the Egyptians in time of famine: 'Go to Joseph, so that they should receive a supply of corn to nourish their bodies, so to those who are now in quest of truth We now say: 'Go to Thomas' that they may ask from him the food of solid doctrine of which he has an abundance to nourish their souls unto eternal life."

8. Bl. John Paul IIBl. John Paul II said: "[T]he Church has been justified in consistently proposing Saint Thomas as a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology....

"[T]he Magisterium has repeatedly acclaimed the merits of Saint Thomas' thought and made him the guide and model for theological studies.... The Magisterium's intention has always been to show how Saint Thomas is an authentic model for all who seek the truth. In his thinking, the demands of reason and the power of faith found the most elevated synthesis ever attained by human thought, for he could defend the radical newness introduced by Revelation without ever demeaning the venture proper to reason."

Pope Benedict XVI  9. Pope Benedict XVI said, "In his encyclical Fides et Ratio, my venerated predecessor, Pope John Paul II recalled that 'the Church has been justified in consistently proposing St. Thomas a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology' (No. 43).

"It is not surprising that, after St. Augustine, among the writers mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas is quoted more than any other — some 61 times! He was also called the Doctor Angelicus, perhaps because of his virtues, in particular the loftiness of his thought and purity of life.

"In short, Thomas Aquinas showed there is a natural harmony between Christian faith and reason. And this was the great work of Thomas, who in that moment of encounter between two cultures — that moment in which it seemed that faith should surrender before reason — showed that they go together, that what seemed to be reason incompatible with faith was not reason, and what seemed to be faith was not faith, in so far as it was opposed to true rationality; thus he created a new synthesis, which shaped the culture of the following centuries."

Since Sacred Theology uses philosophy as a handmaid, the Church's duty does not end with a judgment upon Theology alone, but extends to philosophy as well.

Pope Pius XII1. Pius XII said that "... the Angelic Doctor interpreted [Aristotle] in a uniquely brilliant manner. He made that philosophy Christian when he purged it of the errors into which a pagan writer would easily fall; he used those very errors in his exposition and vindication of Catholic truth. Among the important advances which the Church owes to the great Aquinas this certainly should be included that so nicely did he harmonize Christian truth with the enduring peripatetic philosophy that he made Aristotle cease to be an adversary and become, instead, a militant supporter for Christ ... Therefore, those who wish to be true philosophers ... should take the principles and foundations of their doctrine from Thomas Aquinas. To follow his leadership is praiseworthy: on the contrary, to depart foolishly and rashly from the wisdom of the angelic Doctor is something far from Our mind and fraught with peril ... For those who apply themselves to the teaching and study of Theology and Philosophy should consider it their capital duty, having set aside the findings of a fruitless philosophy, to follow St. Thomas Aquinas and to cherish him as their master and their leader."

St. Pius X2. St. Pius X said that "all who teach philosophy in Catholic schools throughout the world should take care never to depart from the path and method of Aquinas, and to insist upon that procedure more vigorously every day...We warn teachers to keep this religiously in mind, especially in metaphysics, that to disregard Aquinas cannot be done without suffering great harm."

3. Benedict XV said that "along with our predecessors We are equally persuaded that the only philosophy worth our efforts is that which is according to Christ. Therefore the study of philosophy according to the principles and system of Aquinas must certainly be encouraged so that the explanation and invincible defense of divinely revealed truth may be as full as human reason can make of it."

[kempff]

Thomistic documents on St Thomas:

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/index.html

http://dhspriory.org/thomas/ContraGentiles.htm

[Angelorum]

Thomistic Works in English:
http://dhspriory.org/thomas/

Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, true source of light and fountain of wisdom! Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance. Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself. Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion. This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with You and the Father, forever and ever.
Amen.