Born in Sicily in 1225, his father was a Knight in the service of King Roger II. He began his education at Monte Cassino. 

When war broke out, Thomas was sent to Naples and, in his studies, was drawn to the philosophy of Aristotle. 

When he was 19, Thomas made plans to join the Dominicans and become a priest but his mother was bitterly opposed and sent his brothers to kidnap him and bring him back to the family castle where he was held for a year. 

When Thomas refused to change his mind, his mother allowed him to escape and he returned to the Dominicans, becoming a priest. He went on to study in Paris and then Cologne, with Saint Albert the Great. 

Thomas became a professor, served Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools in Rome, and turned down an appointment to be the Abbot of Monte Cassino. 

Thomas used natural theology and philosophy to demonstrate that, through true reason, God becomes obvious. 

Thomas saw reason as a divine gift from God. 

His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church came in the form of his extensive writings. 

In “Summa Theologica”, which he never finished, Thomas addressed all Catholic theology. But he stopped his writing after having a vision of Heaven while celebrating mass on December 6, 1273. After his vision of Heaven, he said: “I cannot go on. All that I have written, compared to what I have seen, seems to me like so much straw.“ 

He died one year later, in 1274.

St. Thomas Aquinas, please pray for us.