The following article is from Medieval France: An Encyclopedia , eds. W. Kibler and G. Zinn. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1995.
AQUINAS, THOMAS, ST. (Doctor Angelicus, Doctor communis ; ca. 1224-1274). Thomas is the only medieval philosopher whose ideas command an active following in the 20th century. The symmetry of his methodical synthesis of traditional Christian (Augustinian and Platonist) theology with Aristotelian methods and categories may be thought of at once as the zenith of medieval scholastic thought and its downfall. Thomas' apparently comprehensive, even-tempered certainties, the product of method and reason, continue to attract those seeking answers to the problems of faith.
Thomas was born in Roccasecca, near Monte Cassino, Italy, the youngest son of Count Landulf of Aquino, who was a relative of the Emperor and the King of France. Schooled at Monte Cassino, where his family hoped he would become abbot, and later (1240) studying arts at Naples, Thomas's love of Christian learning urged him to join the Dominican Order. His family strongly opposed his becoming a mendicant, when the wealth of the Benedictines beckoned, and kept him prisoner, fruitlessly, in Roccasecca for 15 months. In April, 1244, he joined the Dominicans and was sent to Paris (1245-48) to study theology with Albert the Great. In 1248 he accompanied Albert to the new Dominican studium at Cologne, but by 1252 he was back in Paris as lecturer at Saint-Jacques, the Dominican Convent. Here he defended mendicant poverty against the attacks of William of Saint-Amour and his followers, writing Contra Impugnantes Dei Cultum . He became Master of Theology (his formal degree having been delayed by the dispute) in 1256. From 1259-69 he taught at various Dominican houses in Italy: Anagni, Orvieto, Santa Sabina and the studium generale in Rome, and Viterbo. In 1269, just before the condemnation of Aristotelian errors by Stephen Tempier, he returned to Paris but was moved once more, to establish a Dominican studium in Naples, in 1272. He was traveling again, to the Second Council of Lyons, when he died at Fossanouva, on March 7, 1274.
Thomas is renowned for his massive output, which was remarked upon in the evidence for his canonization. He was said to dictate seamlessly to several secretaries at once, each writing a different work. He wrote biblical commentaries, at least one commentary on the Sentences , commentaries on much of Aristotle and the liber de causis , disputed and quodlibetal questions, and other works common to a Paris master, as well as short tracts in answer to specific questions, whether in opposition to the Averroists or Avicebron, for instance, or in reply to the duchess of Brabant on government. Aware of the inadequacy of Western knowledge of Aristotle, he had William of Moerbecke translate or retranslate many of his works, leaving a valuable legacy for later scholars. But Thomas's name is almost synonymous with his Summa theologica (Summa theologiae ), which, together with the earlier Summa contra Gentiles, is a massive statement of the whole of Christian theology. The Summa is in three parts, the first (prima ) dealing with God in se , the second dealing first (prima secundae ) with God's relations with humanity and secondly (secunda secundae ) with humanity's relations with God, and the third (tertia ) with Christ and the sacraments as the path for the human return to God. (The plan is similar to Peter Lombard's Sentences , but in three unequal books rather than four.)
Although Thomas's place in the hierarchy of medieval philosopher-theologians is secure, he is perhaps more recognized today for his system and clarity than for his originality of thought. As we learn more about earlier 13th-century scholastics, we see Thomistic ideas in prototype or isolation. His gift was in a synthesis of what had previously tended to the imposition of Aristotelian categories of thought within a Platonist Christian worldview. He brought the so-called scholastic method of argument and truth-seeking to its finest honing.
Although he is not generally remembered for his spirituality and is not a mystical theologian in the style of Bonaventure, nevertheless he was revered in his lifetime for his holiness, simplicity, and devotion. Quiet (he was nicknamed "the dumb ox") and unassuming, his powers of concentration took on a semi-miraculous quality for the secretaries who worked with him.
Thomas was not without his critics. Some of his positions were condemned by Stephen Tempier in 1277, by Robert Kilwardby in the same year, and by John Peckham in 1284; but his opinions were officially imposed on the Dominican Order in 1278. The Roman Catholic Church considers his teaching an authentic expression of doctrine, and canon law makes study of his works the accepted basis for theology. [Lesley J. Smith]