Skip to main content

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas

Feastday: January 28
Died: 1274

St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church, patron of all universities and of students. His feast day is January 28th. He was born toward the end of the year 1226. He was the son of Landulph, Count of Aquino, who, when St. Thomas was five years old, placed him under the care of the Benedictines of Monte Casino. His teachers were surprised at the progress he made, for he surpassed all his fellow pupils in learning as well as in the practice of virtue.

When he became of age to choose his state of life, St. Thomas renounced the things of this world and resolved to enter the Order of St. Dominic in spite of the opposition of his family. In 1243, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Dominicans of Naples. Some members of his family resorted to all manner of means over a two year period to break his constancy. They even went so far as to send an impure woman to tempt him. But all their efforts were in vain and St. Thomas persevered in his vocation. As a reward for his fidelity, God conferred upon him the gift of perfect chastity, which has merited for him the title of the "Angelic Doctor".

After making his profession at Naples, he studied at Cologne under the celebrated St. Albert the Great. Here he was nicknamed the "dumb ox" because of his silent ways and huge size, but he was really a brilliant student. At the age of twenty-two, he was appointed to teach in the same city. At the same time, he also began to publish his first works. After four years he was sent to Paris. The saint was then a priest. At the age of thirty-one, he received his doctorate.

At Paris he was honored with the friendship of the King, St. Louis, with whom he frequently dined. In 1261, Urban IV called him to Rome where he was appointed to teach, but he positively declined to accept any ecclesiastical dignity. St. Thomas not only wrote (his writings filled twenty hefty tomes characterized by brilliance of thought and lucidity of language), but he preached often and with greatest fruit. Clement IV offered him the archbishopric of Naples which he also refused. He left the great monument of his learning, the "Summa Theologica", unfinished, for on his way to the second Council of Lyons, ordered there by Gregory X, he fell sick and died at the Cistercian monastery of Fossa Nuova in 1274.

St. Thomas was one of the greatest and most influential theologians of all time. He was canonized in 1323 and declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V.

 
from Wikipedia

Previous Saint
< St. Thomas Becket




St. Thomas Aquinas

Saint of the Day  

Learn about the lives of the saints and other saint resources, including a calendar, over 5,000 saint biographies, our most popular saints, and a list of patron saints. 7 days / week. See Sample

E-mail:       Zip Code:

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


Find Saint: Products | Books | Prayers | Saint of the Day


Search Saints:

Rate This Saint

Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

1 - 20 of 98 Comments

  1. Mugga
    1 month ago

    St. Thomas Aquinas, please increase my strongest faith in God - just like you did to God...I want to know deeper in understanding of your strong union only to Church/God/Eurchirst
    for I myself is fully Deaf ....I need to know fully why we are here for? but me being as Deaf
    and its more harder because Hearing no pay attention toward Deaf and I still mulling myself
    why i am here for? I have few books about him and i fell in love with his writings and is try my
    best to study with understanding of what he meant in his writings...so please Dear God and
    Thomas Aquinas to help me to grow deeper in love toward you with my continue patience of
    my frustrates inside me between this worldly and church....so pray for me and my strength to
    stand up with great understanding what is going on here and church...despite of my deafness
    no one able to able to explain me much...No wonder no one interesting to help any Deaf
    person to stay carry on toward church or anything that union to that church........

  2. Hellen
    3 months ago

    St. Thomas Aquinas pray for me and my family inorder to receive God's blessings in the year 2013 and protect us from all evils.

  3. a loving mother
    3 months ago

    st. thomas aquinas,
    please pray for my son, who is working so hard tonight and has so much more work ahead of him. please pray him and his brother too that they study well and see good results.

  4. Derek
    3 months ago

    St Thomas Aquinas, please pary for me as I am sitting exams and need your prays.

  5. Joseph Mathew
    3 months ago

    St. Thomas Acquinas, Your love of purity and chastity embellished your great learning. Please do pray for me to lead a virtuous life.

  6. Raj Ambrose
    3 months ago

    Dear saint,

    Pray for me to practise chastity at any cost. Teach me to have the strong faith that you had on Christ. Enable me to reach God through faith complemented by reason. Amen.

  7. JMJ
    3 months ago

    St. Thomas Aquinas, pray fo rme as I finish my studies

  8. christopher
    3 months ago

    St.Thomas Aquinas great saint i belive in you and in all the great saint
    please pray for me and my family i have great faith in you
    God Bless us all
    Amen

  9. general unknown anonymous
    3 months ago

    28th jan 2013:st thomas aquinas pray for us!

  10. chet bas
    3 months ago

    happy feast day St. Thomas Aquinas. please help me and my mom to have discipline in eating. please intercede to the Most Holy Trinity to heal our hearts as well. And help me to correlate science and religion in the practice of medicine. please help me pass my medicine exams. thank you

  11. Violet
    5 months ago

    St. Thomas Aquinas,
    I humbly ask you to pray for me. I just took my NCLEX-PN exam this Monday, December 17,2012 at 8am. I don't know my results yet but I ask you to intercede for me so I can pass. I know that You, St. Joseph of Cupertino, my God, Jesus, and the blessed Virgin Mary were all there with me. Thank you for allowing me to keep calm and free from anxiety and fear. When I pass I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

  12. Linda
    5 months ago

    St. Thomas, please pray for my son who is having some struggles in Vet School. Please give him the strength and perseverance to do well on the remainder of his exams and to finish this semester strong!

  13. Discipulus
    7 months ago

    I am translating part of his Summa Theologica from Latin to English this year in school! St. Thomas, pray for me!

  14. Christine
    7 months ago

    Please pray for my son Raymond who is taking up nursing bachelor degree and being a cadet simultaneously at university. Please give him strength, confidence and assertiveness. Please help him to get along with his professors, administrators, fellow cadets and his cadet superiors. Please help him to stay focused on his studies. Please help him find the strength to remain positive in light of the difficult time he is having with his nursing classes and being a cadet. Please pray for my son to pass all of this exams/quizzes and writing research paper with flying colors. He has to maintain his 3.7 gpa to maintaing his scholarship. My dad just passed away and my dad is paying a visit to see him. My dad has not seen since he was five years old. Please pray for my son not to be scared and my dad is showing that how proud he is toward my son. Please tell him that his grandfather loves him so much.

  15. bobski13
    10 months ago

    st.thomas is the a great seat

  16. jbr
    11 months ago

    St. Thomas Aquinas, Thank you for being there for me.Please help me pass my examination. Thank you

  17. RH
    1 year ago

    Saint please pray for myself and family to loose weight and get healthy. My husband does not need to loose weight please pray for his diabetes and heart problems.
    I love you.

  18. Gil Antonio Gonzales
    1 year ago

    St. Thomas of Aquinas, we ask, we seek and we knock for your intercession for our son's, Bill Anthony P. Gonzales, who will take his Nursing Board Examination this coming June 30 and July 1, 2012 Nursing Board Examination... We humbly ask you to pray for his success in his examination. All this we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ Most Holy name, amen!

    Thank you St. Thomas.

  19. Gabriela
    1 year ago

    Please St. Thomas pray for Anthony. Pray in the name of Jesus, that he's delivered from any strongholds that are keeping him from accepting and coming to Christ. I pray that he's delivered from adultery, sexual sin, idolatry. May God bless him and fill him with the holy spirit Amen.

  20. tuthake
    1 year ago

    St. Thomas Aquinas, please pray for my children's education and that they will not be diverted away from the one, true, Cathoilic and apostolic church as they mingle with more friends, with a lot of diversity in their beliefs. Let them evangelize their friends instead of being influenced by their friends. Thank you.


Leave a Comment

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment

Previous Saint
< St. Thomas Becket

Next Saint
Bl. Thomas Alfield >




Find Saints

Catholic Online offers the largest searchable database of Catholic Saints on the internet.

Browse Saints
by Alphabet
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Patron Saints
by Alphabet
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Newsletter Sign Up

Daily Readings

Reading 1, Sirach 4:11-19
Wisdom brings up her own children and cares for those who seek ... Read More

Psalm, Psalms 119:165, 168, 171, 172, 174, 175
Great peace for those who love your Law; no stumbling-blocks ... Read More

Gospel, Mark 9:38-40
John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us ... Read More

Saint of the Day

May 22 Saint of the Day

St. Rita
May 22: St. Rita was born at Spoleto, Italy in 1381. At an early age, ... Read More




Marketplace

Click Here

The Fulfillment of All Desire
Honorable Mention from the Catholic Press Association Ralph Martin, ... Read More


Click Here

25 Inch Silver Men's Rosary with Black Beads Read More