St. Thomas Aquinas - January 28
UniversityofStThomas. St. Thomas Aquinas PRIEST & DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (+ 1274) - MEMORIAL on January 28
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
Priest and Doctor of the Church
(c. 1225-1274)
St. Thomas was born of noble parents at Aquino in Italy, in 1226. At the age of nineteen he received the Dominican habit at Naples, where he was studying.
Seized by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered a two years' captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. While St. Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his chamber the wretched creature whom they had there concealed. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in ecstasy, an angel girded …More