Vidas e Orações de Santos Catolicos
The Lives and Prayers of Catholic Saints:
Saint Augustine of Hippo &
Saint of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Wyatt North
Wyatt North Publishing
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Foreword
The Lives and Prayers of Catholic Saints: Volume II combines the stories of
Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Combining the lives of Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Thomas
Aquinas is an obvious choice. Saint Thomas followed in the footsteps of
Saint Augustine, often synthesizing and quoting heavily from Augustine’s
sermons and writings.
The Church has numerous fathers who have influenced its dogma in
substantial ways. Although none of them can be singled out as the most
pivotal theologian of Church history, it can certainly be said that Saint
Augustine of Hippo has long been a central figure to Christian thought,
informing both on the nature of God and the nature of Christian morality.
Saint Thomas Aquinas followed in Augustine’s genius. Aquinas’ genius lay
in his ability to synthesize vast and disparate sources into intelligible and
convincing discourse. Likely, not many “average” Christians would choose
Aquinas for their bedtime reading, just as most patients would not care to
hear the scientific explanation behind the human genome. Yet, the
implication of that discovery, just like the implications for Aquinas’
groundbreaking approach to Christianity, has changed everything.
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formatted (searchable and interlinked) to work on your eBook reader.
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Touch-or-Click Table of Contents
About Wyatt North Publishing
Foreword
Quick Facts: Saint Augustine
Quick Facts: Saint Thomas
The Lives of Saint Augustine and Aquinas
The Life of Saint Augustine
Introduction
A Young Augustine
Augustine the Student, Augustine the Teacher
A Traveling Man
The Conversion
Preaching in Africa
Bishop of Hippo
The Final Years
Seeker, Speaker, Saint
Prayers by Saint Augustine
Act of Hope
Act of Petition
Breathe in Me, Holy Spirit
Lord Jesus, Let Me Know Myself
Prayer for the Indwelling of the Spirit
Prayer for the Sick
Prayer of Joy at the Birth of Jesus
Prayer of Trust in God’s Heavenly Promise
Prayer on Finding God after a Long Search
Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Mercy
Prayer to Seek God Continually
Watch, O Lord
You are Christ
Prayers to Saint Augustine
Prayer I
Litany to Saint Augustine
The Life of Saint Thomas Aquinas
An Introduction to His Life
Medieval Scholasticism
The Meeting of the Philosopher and the Theologian
The Existence of God
Soul
Epistemology
Law and Government
The Summa theologica
The Living Flame
Saint Thomas Aquinas for Catholics Today
Prayers Written by Saint Thomas
Devoutly I Adore Thee (Adoro te devote)
Thanksgiving After Mass
Sion Lift Thy Voice and Sing
Tantum Ergo Sacramentum
Adoro Te Devote
A Prayer Before Mass
A Student’s Prayer
A Prayer After Mass
Prayers to Saint Thomas
Prayer to Saint Thomas Aquinas
Litany in Honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas’ Advent Homilies
Homily I: The Four-Fold Day
Homily II: The Coming of the King
Homily III: The Teaching of Holy Scripture
Homily IV: The Teaching of Holy Scripture II
Homily V: The Advent of Justice
Homily VI: The True Ministry of Christ
Homily VII: The Advent of Grace
Homily VIII: The True Joy
Homily IX: The Cry to God
Quick Facts: Saint Augustine
Born:
November 13, 354
Thagaste, Numidia (now Souk Ahras, Algeria)
Died:
August 28, 430, age 75
Hippo Regius, Numidia (now modern-day Annaba, Algeria)
Feast:
August 28 (Western Christianity)
June 15 (Eastern Christianity)
November 4 (Assyrian)
Attributes:
child; dove; pen; shell, pierced heart, holding book with a small church,
bishop's staff, miter
Quick Facts: Saint Thomas
Born:
c.1225 at Roccasecca, Aquino, Naples, Italy
Died:
March 7, 1274 at Fossanuova near Terracina
Occupation:
Priest, Philosopher, Theologian
Feast:
January 28 (new), March 7 (old)
Attributes:
The Summa theologiae, a model church, the Sun.
The Lives of Saint Augustine and Aquinas
Combining the lives of Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Thomas
Aquinas is an obvious choice. Saint Thomas followed in the footsteps of
Saint Augustine, often synthesizing and quoting from Augustine’s sermons
and writings.
Both Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas were known for their deep
philosophical thoughts. Their ideas have paved the way for modern
philosophy and were pivotal and development and spread of the Christian
faith. While the two disagreed on some points, such as the way that we
perceive God, their ideas complimented each other in many ways.
We leave it to the reader to find and interpret similarities and the differences
between the Saints. Both men led extraordinary lives and we hope the
reader is inspired by their stories.
Below we start with the life of Saint Augustine of Hippo.
The Life of Saint Augustine
Introduction
The Church has numerous fathers who have influenced its dogma in
substantial ways. Although none of them can be singled out as the most
pivotal theologian of Church history, it can certainly be said that Saint
Augustine of Hippo has long been a central figure to Christian thought,
informing both on the nature of God and the nature of Christian morality.
He has been quoted throughout the ages by important Christian writers,
such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, and has been listed as a strong influence by
Pope Benedict XVI. Through his central place in the history of Christianity,
some historians have appointed Saint Augustine particularly great
importance in European and World history. They have called him the last
man of the Classical Age, and the first medieval man.
An extremely prolific writer, Saint Augustine of Hippo produced more than
one hundred titles in his lifetime. His works include great monoliths on the
nature of God's grace, commentaries on scripture, books of doctrine,
rebuttals to heresies, and sermons and letters. He started writing even before
he was a Christian, and started writing Christian works even before he was
baptized. In many ways, he was a man of his time: well-read in ancient
pagan poetry, philosophy, and rhetoric, deeply moved by the ascetic ideals
of the fourth century.
Yet those same tendencies that mark him as so ordinary, also mark him as
extraordinary. It is much thanks to Augustine that Greek thought, Neo-
Platonism in particular, received its baptism, and was allowed to enter the
Christian equation.
The most astonishing fact of the Blessed Augustine's life is perhaps how
unlikely the Catholic Church was to find in him an ally and Doctor of the
Church. In his younger years, Augustine directly opposed the Christian way
of life, and he proselytized for other religions. He glorified pagan thinkers
over the Scriptures, which he found coarse and unsophisticated. His
resentment of the Church and Christian virtues was embodied by his often
strained, and sometimes estranged, relationship with his Christian mother.
The main source on Saint Augustine's life is no doubt his autobiographical
work, The Confessions. Much can also be gleaned from his sermons, and
his numerous letters, as well as the letters written to him by others. The
earliest biography, The Life of Saint Augustine, was written not long after
his death, by his friend Saint Possidius, the bishop of Calama. Possidius's
text is generally held by historians to be quite credible.
Other biographies of Saint Augustine, both medieval and modern, tend to
draw heavily from the works of Augustine and Possidius, although some
draw also on legends. One such work with compilations about Augustine
would be the 13th century Lives of the Saints by Jacobus de Voragine,
archbishop of Genoa. Such works, while providing many interesting
anecdotes, and reflections on the saint's character, are generally considered
to be of lesser historical value.
A Young Augustine
Saint Augustine of Hippo was born in the year 354, in the city of Thagaste
in the Numidia region of the Roman province called Africa. This city is
today Souk Ahras, in Algeria.
Roman Africa at the time of Augustine's birth covered modern Tunisia and
the Mediterranean coast of Libya and eastern Algeria. To the east it
bordered the Roman province Cyrenaica, in western Egypt, and to the west
it bordered on the Roman province Mauretania, which covered the
Mediterranean coast of Morocco and much of Algeria. Although with
modern eyes it is easy to view Africa as a remote part of the Roman
Empire, and to assume that it was a lesser province, the opposite is in fact
true. In antiquity it was often more difficult to travel by land than by sea, so
Roman Africa's position on the Mediterranean Sea put it right at the heart of
the western Roman Empire. It was a flourishing and richly fertile province,
often called “the granary of Rome” because without the grain imported
from Africa the Italian cities would have succumbed to starvation.
Christianity was not quite yet the state religion of the Roman Empire at the
time of Augustine's birth, but it certainly held a position of privilege. Long
gone were the days of persecution for confessing a Christian faith. This,
however, also meant that Christianity was divided, and persecution was
being performed by Christians against Christians.
The Council of Nicaea was held in 325 to erase some of these divisions,
proclaiming a unified Christian doctrine on the trinitarian nature of God, the
nature of Jesus, and other things of great importance, such as the calculation
of Easter. Unfortunately, such councils did little to unify the faith. Nor did it
help that from 361, when Augustine was only seven years old, until 363, the
pagan Emperor Julian set out to weaken the Church by granting
unsupported divisions official approval. In Africa, this meant that the
previously heretical Donatist faith, a very strict sect of Christians who
revered martyrs, gained official status.
Thagaste, the city of Augustine's birth, lay sixty miles inland and was
separated from the Mediterranean by the Medjera mountain range. Further
south lay the mountains of Aures, which separate the Algerian plain from
the Sahara desert. Even so, Thagaste had many of the elements of a busy
harbor city. It lay on many inland roads used by merchants and travelers.
Aside from Latin, Berber and Punic were languages that could be heard in
the streets.
Augustine's father, Patricius, was a city official. He held the rank of
decurion, a town councilor with tax collection duties. It was a position
which Augustine, as the eldest son, was expected to inherit. In addition to
his official government business, Patricius owned a vineyard, which was
worked by several slaves. He was a pagan, and strongly opposed to having
his children baptized. Augustine's mother, on the other hand, was called
Monica. She is known to us now as Saint Monica. She was a Christian, and
most likely of Berber heritage, and, like most Christians in Thagaste, she
was a Donatist. After Augustine, she had two more children with Patricius:
a son, Navigius, and a daughter, Perpetua.
Although there were many local languages in the Roman Empire, and
Greek was both the prominent lingua franca and the language of the
flourishing eastern empire, the language of Patricius and Monica's
household was Latin. Patricius selected fluent Latin-speaking slaves and
pedagogues for Augustine with his future, as an official of the western
Roman Empire, in mind.
When Augustine was only eleven years old, he and his pedagogue, a type of
slave who accompanies children in a parent's stead, were sent to live in the
city of Madauros in order for Augustine to be close to a good school. It was
a sophisticated intellectual and cultural center, where temples and churches
of varying religions mingled. The pagan population of Madauros had
recently increased in both size and vigor, thanks to Julian the Apostate, the
pagan emperor who had died only two years before Augustine arrived.
The Blessed Augustine was not what one would call a good student. Free
from parental oversight, he would often lie to his pedagogue and to his
teachers about his whereabouts, and skip classes to attend the amphitheater.
When he was forced to attend his classes, he was stubborn and often
disinterested. Having been flogged many times for failing to learn Greek,
the young Augustine simply decided that he would refuse to learn the
language no matter how much he was beaten.
At other times, Augustine was deeply moved by his studies. In the time of
Augustine's youth, all secular instruction, even when performed by
Christians, used the Greek and Roman classics. These poems resonated
with Augustine. “My ears were inflamed for pagan myths, and the more
they were scratched the more they itched,” he later wrote. He idolized
Aeneas, the hero of Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid.
While in Madauros, Augustine made friends with several pagans. Among
them was an older man by the name of Maximus, whom Augustine viewed
as something of a mentor. Whether Augustine considered himself a pagan at
this time in his life is difficult to say, but he did convince others, Maximus
among them, that he was.
When Augustine turned sixteen he had finished his studies in Madauros and
returned to his father's home in Thagaste. He was supposed to have started
his rhetoric studies in Carthage that same year, but when the time came to
pay for the tuition, Patricius could not produce the funds. Augustine took a
gap year. A more studious person might have used his time to gain
experiences through travel or work. Augustine, on the other hand, was not a
studious person and sought experiences of another sort.
With his friends, Augustine roamed the streets of Thagaste after sunset,
looking for just the right amount of trouble. “What was not allowed allured
us,” he wrote later of this year. After his conversion to Christianity, how he
had stolen in those days simply for the sake of stealing came to haunt his
conscience.
Sixteen was also the year when Augustine became sexually active.
Horrified as she initially was, Saint Monica came to take quite a practical
stance to her son's experimentation. Although she encouraged her son “with
great anxiety” to stay chaste, she also made it clear to him that should he
commit the sin of fornication, he must stay clear of married women. To
Augustine, he later admitted, this was silly womanly advice, and at sixteen
he would have been embarrassed to follow it.
We might have known nothing today of Augustine's youthful liaisons, if
one of the women he bedded in that sixteenth year had not fallen pregnant.
To spare her dignity, he simply called her Una when he wrote of her. The
last thing that Augustine had wanted was to be tied down to a child. He was
just getting started in life.
During his gap year he had caught the eye of Thagaste's most wealthy and
influential man, Romanian. In addition to becoming Augustine's patron,
Romanian took charge of his education and saw to it that Augustine would
go to Carthage the following school year. In the meantime, Augustine spent
a significant amount of his time on Romanian's estate. Some of that time
was spent tutoring Romanian's two sons. In turn, and with the help of
Romanian, the young rebellious Augustine, began to mature, but his
maturity was short lived.
Augustine the Student, Augustine the Teacher
When Augustine left for rhetoric school in Carthage he took Una with him,
and she lived there with him as his concubine. It was then, just before they
left or soon after their arrival in Carthage, that Una gave birth to their son.
His name was Adeodatus, meaning “Godsend.”
Augustine was most unhappy about his newfound obligations and the
commitment that he felt he had never signed up for. Amongst his
classmates, he deeply admired the subversives. It was them that he chose to
associate with, but not without a constant feeling of disconnect. He felt
ashamed that he was unable to live up to their shamelessness, and to
participate in their raids and pranks. When they spent their evenings
roaming the city streets, Augustine was by necessity at home, studying
through the night, to the frequent interruptions of his infant son.
During Augustine's first year at Carthage, his father died. Patricius
reportedly converted to Christianity before dying, at the fervent request of
his wife. Saint Monica stayed for some time in Thagaste, managing the
estate. She must have visited Augustine and Una, and the baby Adeodatus,
but although she was expected to move in with them she long put it off. The
reason for this was that she did not approve of her son's sinful and heretical
ways. In particular, they had many arguments on the topic of philosophy
and Manichaeism.
When Augustine was nineteen, he came across, during his studies, a now
lost dialogue of Cicero's called Hortensius. Having read it, he considered
himself a convert of philosophy. The Christian scriptures of his mother
seemed to him, when compared to philosophical treatises, unsophisticated,
even crude.
As a result, Augustine was increasingly drawn to a group of people he had
come to know over his first two years in Carthage: young, fun, Manichaean
intellectuals. Augustine described their camaraderie with a heartfelt
tenderness in his Confessions:
Their other qualities more compelled my heart-conversation
and laughter and mutual deferrings; shared readings of sweetlyphrased
books, facetiousness alternating with things serious, heated
arguing (as if with oneself), to spice our general agreement with
dissent; teaching and being taught by turns; the sadness at anyone's
absence, and the joy of return. Reciprocated love for such
semaphorings - a smile, a glance, a thousand winning acts - to fuse
separate sparks into a single glow, no longer many souls but one.
Manichaeism, a gnostic religion revealed by its martyr-founder-prophet
Mani, offered Augustine what he considered a rational cosmology, and
detached enlightenment. Manichaeism preached a dualistic world inhabited
by a Good God, whose God-particles inhabited all men, and an Evil God,
constantly at battle with one another. Natural phenomena were the result of
this divine battle. Even Creation itself was not a result of the actions of the
Good God alone. The Earth and Mankind, they said, were both possessed
by different ratios of Light and Dark. Manichaeism had room for Monica's
Savior, whom Augustine had heard much of while attending the Donatist
Church in Thagaste. Even the Trinity could be incorporated into
Manichaeism, which preached a Trinity consisting of the Good God, the
Light, who was Christ, and the Prophet Mani, the Messenger of the Light
sent upon the World.
Further still, Manichaeism offered Augustine a chance to be the rebel he
had always wanted, of which being an adolescent father and spouse had
suddenly robbed him. Though not yet illegal, Manichaeism certainly had
the flavor of the forbidden, as it was considered heretical by Christians, and
greatly angered Monica. Even so, Saint Monica did eventually decide to
look beyond her son's heretical views and moved in with him and Una.
Having finished his studies in Carthage, Augustine was called back to
Thagaste by his patron Romanian to become a teacher. It is clear that by this
time Romanian too had converted to Manichaeism, although not under the
influence of Augustine. There were others, however, whose conversion to
Manichaeism was strongly influenced by Augustine. He was a welleducated
rhetorician who enjoyed debating, and gained quite a reputation as
a proponent for intellectual Manichaeism.
After only two years of teaching in Thagaste, Augustine returned to
Carthage to teach at his Alma Mater. It was in that time, during the year
380, when Augustine was 26 years old, that he published his first book. It
was called The Beautiful and the Appropriate, but it is unfortunately lost to
time.
While teaching in Carthage, Augustine also began to doubt the Manichaean
faith he had often so eloquently defended to others. It seemed to Augustine
that the cosmic myths proposed by Manichaeism failed to line up with the
science and natural philosophy of the day.
What Augustine wanted was an intellectual teacher who could explain the
discrepancies experienced by Augustine, and guide him back into faith.
When Faustus, a renowned Manichaean speaker, came to Carthage
Augustine sought him out. Although he was a charismatic leader, Faustus
could not answer Augustine's most important questions in a satisfactory
way. He was not a well-read man like Augustine and was not familiar with
the works that Augustine had been reading and teaching. Faustus was,
however, open to learning and discussing, so the two men became good
friends, although Augustine never did gain in Faustus the teacher he had
hoped to find.
A Traveling Man
After only a few years in Carthage, Augustine decided to move on. He
packed Monica, Una, and Adeodatus onto a boat and set sail for Rome, the
city of his beloved masters, Virgil and Cicero.
When Augustine arrived in Rome, in 383, it was no longer the capital of the
empire. The empire was divided in two parts, and the center of the western
empire now lay in Milan. The golden age of Virgil that Augustine had
hoped to find was long gone. Corrupt senators, who were as poor in
scruples as they were rich in gold and land, ran the city. The city may have
been pagan, but it lacked the heroic ethics of ancient pagan mythical poetry.
There was also much political instability in Italy when Augustine arrived.
The same year, a popular general seized power from the western emperor,
who had to flee to his eastern colleague for help to restore his power.
Although Augustine had been growing increasingly disillusioned with
Manichaeism, he still used his Manichaean contacts to establish for himself
a patron in Rome. Once there, however, he aligned himself with Quintus
Aurelius Symmachus, a pagan senator of a fine old family who was famous
for his oratory. Symmachus was also the prefect of the city, and part of an
impressive circle of poets and other famous commentators Virgil. Augustine
must have appreciated Symmachus's friends as much as he appreciated
Symmachus himself.
The stay in Rome did not last long. Augustine was tired of teaching, worn
thin by students frequently eluding payment, and unimpressed with Rome
itself. Symmachus arranged for him a position at the court in Milan, as an
official court orator. Augustine arrived at the imperial court in Milan in 384,
when he was 30 years old.
In Milan, Augustine rose to a much higher social plateau. His household
grew to include, aside from himself, Una, Saint Monica, and Adeodatus, his
brother, two cousins, as well as several students, slaves, stenographers, and
copyists.
Unlike Rome, Milan was a Christian city. At the time Augustine arrived it
was split into two Christian fractions: Athanasians and Arians, who
disagreed on the divinity of Jesus, and practical matters of ecclesiastical
chastity and the dating of Easter. In Milan, these fractions were headed by
the Catholic bishop Ambrose, now Saint Ambrose of Milan, and the Arian
empress Justina respectively.
Whether Augustine felt any stronger affinity for any particular side is
uncertain, but it is clear that he did not particularly seek out Ambrose, and
his conversion is unlikely to have been influenced by the same. Saint
Ambrose was not opposed to using miracles as a means of gaining popular
support, and Augustine in those early years was deeply skeptical towards
miracles, as they were used frequently in his mother's Donatist faith.
Although they were both present at the court, Augustine only called on
Saint Ambrose twice: once as a courtesy call when he arrived at court, and
then once again to ask him about fasting in Milan, on Saint Monica's behalf.
For Augustine's part, he probably had as much trouble relating to the bishop
as the bishop had to him. Augustine tells us that Saint Ambrose suggested
to him a reading from Isaiah, completely oblivious to the fact that the
unbaptized Augustine would have had no familiarity with the symbolic
reading of Scripture. In his literal reading of the Bible, the younger
Augustine could not understand Isaiah at all.
With his new well-paid position at court, and being now a grown man,
Augustine was quickly becoming a very eligible bachelor. Saint Monica,
who was still managing her husband's estate, arranged for Augustine to be
engaged to a Christian heiress of not yet marriageable age. The fact that she
was not yet marriageable indicates to us that she must have been less than
twelve years old, to Augustine's thirty.
The fact that Monica did not arrange for Augustine to marry Una may
indicate that there was a difference in class between them, which would
have made it impossible for the two to legally marry. Perhaps Una was not
the right kind of Christian. It is also possible that Una had grown weary of
her relationship with Augustine. He was a heretic, for one thing, but they
also clearly wanted different things out of the relationship. Augustine has
indicated in his own writings that he used contraceptive strategies against
Una's wishes. Maybe Una relented for the sake of her son, Adeodatus. If
she could not marry Augustine, he could still adopt Adeodatus with his
wife, and thus legitimize the child's birth.
Even so, they had been together for fourteen years and it was not an easy
separation to bear. Augustine wrote about the pain he experienced when
Una left. “Since she was an obstacle to my marriage, the woman I lived
with for so long was torn out of my side,” he wrote. “My heart, to which
she had been grafted, was lacerated, wounded, shedding blood.” The
heartache, it seems, was not enough for him to stay celibate until he married
his young fiancée. Augustine promptly took a new concubine.
The Conversion
In Milan, Augustine met Saint Simplician, a mentor of Saint Ambrose who
had been elected his teacher of doctrine. The two men struck up a
friendship and Saint Simplician frequently received Augustine for long
discussions. He introduced Augustine to a budding Neo-Platonist Christian
community in Milan, which of course spoke to Augustine's philosophical
leanings.
Simplician also had the sensitivity to understand what Augustine needed,
and when he needed it. He provided him with stories of conversion,
flavored to Augustine's sensibilities, and recommended scripture readings
that Augustine could relate to. While Ambrose had suggested a symbolic
reading, Simplician guided Augustine towards the writings of Paul, whose
clear and direct message he could better grasp.
Simplician's conversion stories inspired Augustine in much the same way
that Latin poetry once had. He saw himself as the heroes of these stories
and wanted to go through what they had gone through. At the same time, he
felt a weakness of will. As much as he desired to be like one of these men,
he could not find the power to break away from the contrary life he was
leading, with his wealth, and his mistress.
His own contradictory nature was an escalating crisis for Augustine. It all
happened to come tumbling down around him one day in 386 as he was
walking in a garden, with his friend Alypius. What he experienced was akin
to a panic attack. He could control his physical body – pull his hair, hug his
knees – but he could not control his will, and free himself from slavery to
his habits.
He saw then, with his mind's eye, self-control embodied in female form.
She reached out to him, to embrace him, and in her arms were multitudes of
good examples. Lady Self-Control said to him:
Canst not thou what these youths, what these maidens can? Or can
they either in themselves, and not rather in the Lord their God? The
Lord their God gave me unto them. Why standest thou in thyself, and
so standest not? Cast thyself upon Him, fear not, He will not withdraw
Himself that thou shouldest fall; cast thyself fearlessly upon Him, He
will receive, and will heal thee.
Next, Augustine saw himself walking into the desert, where he sat beneath
a fig tree. In both that place and in the garden, where Alypius sat by him, he
wept and he spoke of his heart's repentance. That is when he heard the
chanting voice of a child. He assumed that it came from a nearby house, but
it surprised him. It seemed to chant “Take up and read,” but Augustine's
experience told him that no child would be happy to chant such a thing. He
took it to be a command from God and arose immediately to retrieve a
Latin translation of the Gospels, which he brought back to the place where
Alypius was still sitting. He opened the book and read that section on which
his eyes first fell. It was Romans 13: “not in orgies and drunkenness, not in
promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
There he stopped, for as Augustine himself put it: “instantly at the end of
this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the
darkness of doubt vanished away.”
Augustine decided that he would not simply be a Christian, he was going to
be a Christian ascetic. This in itself is not greatly surprising. Asceticism
was a popular philosophical ideal in late antiquity. It was upheld both by
pagans and by Manichaeans, but it was a state maintained only by the most
serious of practitioners.
As a Manichaean, Augustine had been content with being a layperson with
wealth and ties to the secular world. As a Christian, Augustine wanted
more. He would leave his prominent position at the court, and give up his
fiancée, but first he would be baptized, along with his friend Alypius and
his son Adeodatus, during Holy Week of 387.
While waiting to be initiated into the Christian mysteries, Augustine wrote
four dialogues. These early dialogues were of course Christian in nature,
but contained no commentary on the scriptures. That may have been
because Augustine was not yet initiated into the mysteries. Writing about
them would have been, simply put, presumptuous.
Augustine's first introduction to the symbolic reading of the scriptures came
through Saint Ambrose's instructions to candidates for baptism. In his
instructions, Ambrose traced the spiritual bath of baptism back to Noah's
flood, to the passage of the Red Sea, to Jesus healing a blind man in the
pool of Siloam, to the waters that Moses sweetened, and to the water that
floated the ax of Elijah. On the more practical side of things, candidates
were expected to spend all of Lent unbathed and wearing penitential hair
suits. They were assigned a special place in the church, and had to
memorize the Apostle's Creed and Lord's Prayer.
On Thursday of Holy Week they were finally allowed to bathe, and were
submitted to a physical examination. On Easter Eve they prayed through the
night, renounced Satan at dawn, turned to the sun, and were conducted to
the octagonal pool for baptism.
After his baptism at the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Milan,
Augustine returned to Rome where he no doubt settled into the city's
Christian community. At Rome he wrote two more dialogues, as well as a
treatise on Catholic and Manichaean moral systems. But his heart was
always in Africa, and it was there he wished to go. In 388 he set sail for the
second, and final, time in his life. Before their travels took them to their
homeland, however, Saint Monica, passed away.
Preaching in Africa
When he arrived in Thagaste, Augustine resettled on his father's property
and accepted, for a while, the duties of a decurion, the job and station he
inherited from his father. Una had probably been living in Thagaste for
several years at this point, and it is likely that Adeodatus was in contact
with her, but Augustine never wrote of her again. Their son was at this time
sixteen, and featured in his father's newly penned dialogue The Teacher.
Tragically, Adeodatus died suddenly of unknown causes the same year.
Where he had once debated in favor of Manichaeism, Augustine was now
debating for Christianity. His rising reputation as a rhetorician and orator
meant that he now had to be careful in his travels – not because someone
might accost him, but because someone may shanghai him into becoming a
priest or a bishop. At the time, churches in the western Roman Empire had
a tendency of pronouncing any visiting scholar their new priest or bishop,
with or without their consent. Saint Ambrose had been appointed bishop in
much the same way without even being baptized.
But Augustine did not want to stay in Thagaste, so he set his sight on Hippo
Regius. That city already had bishop, and by ecclesiastical law the bishop
was the only one allowed to preach there. There was therefore no
conceivable way for Augustine to be forced off the ascetic path that he had
chosen for himself. There was also a community of monks in Hippo, whom
Augustine wanted to join.
The bishop of Hippo was a man called Valerius. According to Augustine's
biographer, Possidius, he was “a Greek by birth and less versed in the Latin
language and literature.” This was most unfortunate for Augustine, for
Valerius was a man quite aware of his failings. He decided that he would
like Augustine, a man of rhetoric and Latin, to take on the preaching at
Hippo. This went against all of Augustine's wishes for a peaceful ascetic
life. He resisted the request, argued that it was against the law and that he
needed to study rather than to teach, but Valerius was more than willing to
work around such problems. He offered Augustine plenty of time to study,
absolved him of the interdiction on preaching, and promised a garden next
to the church to create a monastic community in lieu of that he would be
leaving. Augustine simply could not say no. Thus he became the presbyter
of Hippo Regius.
The monastic community that Augustine created was meant to imitate the
manner and rule of the holy apostles. Its principal rule was that no man
should have possessions of his own, but rather all things should be
communal and distributed to each according to his need.
Augustine preached to the Catholics of Hippo between 391 and 396. He
was an engaging speaker and his lively sermons, full of wit, pun, and
wordplay, were very popular. They did, however, draw some criticism from
those who felt that Augustine was pandering to the uncivilized mob, rather
than raising them up.
In the year 393, Valerius had Augustine address the African bishops during
the pan-African council. It was most likely there that Augustine first met
the primate of Carthage, Bishop Aurelius. He was a reformer with grand
plans, and he quite enjoyed Augustine's address of faith and creed. The two
of them struck up a partnership with the intent of remaking African
Christianity over the course of several decades. Augustine would train, in
his monastery, the bishops that Aurelius would then strategically place into
parishes.
As Augustine's influence in Hippo grew, so did his confidence and his
desire to unite all Christians under the banner of Catholicism. He wanted to
meet the Donatists head on and win the people over with public debates.
His rhetoric was well known and he was set to win. Unfortunately, the
Donatists were not interested in public debates. They were not interested in
sharing any sort of space with Catholics at all, who they considered to be
sinners. The animosity was such that Donatists refused to greet Catholics in
public and would not do business with them.
For all of the distaste that Augustine had felt for the Donatists over the
years, he also admired them. They were extremely strict and very harsh
towards any sinfulness. Augustine, with his long held ascetic ideals,
approved of this and he hoped to fashion Catholicism a bit closer to
Donatism.
One such push to bring Catholicism closer to Donatism occurred in 395,
around the feast day of Hippo's first martyr-saint. Bishop Valerius had
already ordered the Catholic community not to engage in their usual
drunken festivity, which had made him incredibly unpopular. Augustine
followed the bishop's speech with three days of hellfire-and-doom
addresses, right before the saint's feast day. The first of the speeches was
very poorly received, the second was not much better, but by the end of the
third day the celebrations were canceled. The Catholics would hold a
sombre, and sober, celebration.
Although the Donatists would not debate with him, Augustine did have the
chance to meet his former Manichaean brothers in verbal battle. Possidius
tells us of one such event.
In Hippo, many men had been swayed over to Manichaeism by the
preaching of a Manichaean presbyter by the name of Fortunatus. Catholics
and Donatists alike urged Augustine to debate with this man, but Fortunatus
was familiar with Augustine from the days when they were both
Manichaeans and did not particularly wish butt heads.
Eventually, however, Fortunatus was shamed by his fellow Manichaeans
into meeting Augustine in the debate. He left the debate even more shamed,
having been unable to challenge Augustine at all, and never returned to
Hippo.
Bishop of Hippo
Augustine's sermons, in particular those held on sobriety in conjunction
with the saint's day in 395, had soon secured Augustine a place as one of
the most influential men in Hippo. Afraid that his reformer preacher would
be snatched up by another diocese with an opening, Valerius did something
unprecedented: he wrote to the primate of Carthage and requested that
Hippo be granted not one, but two bishops. himself and Augustine together.
Augustine was first made coadjutor bishop, and then fully consecrated in
395, forty-one years old, only four years after becoming a priest, and only
eight years after his baptism.
In 397, when Augustine had been a bishop for only two years, he started
writing his Confessions, in which he explored his own inner mind. To
Augustine, this was one way in which he could come to better understand
God. Humans, the Bible states, were made in the image of God, and so,
Augustine thought, the human mind must also reflect God's mind. Aside
from his confessions, Augustine also threw himself into writing On
Christian Doctrine, which would take years to complete.
These were busy years for Augustine. He was also preaching and holding
councils on reformation of African Christianity, in addition to being
burdened with a high number of secular duties that were increasingly being
foisted onto clergy. As part of these duties he was acting as a secular judge.
He was also still the leader of his monastic community.
Despite of his high standing, Augustine remained true to his ideals. His
clothing and footwear were always modest, neither too fine nor too coarse.
The bedclothes of his community were equally modest, sufficient but no
more. The food served was frugal, but guests and brothers suffering from
illness or fatigue could expect to be served meat from time to time.
Augustine avoided spending time alone with women as well as having
women under his roof. It was not simply because of his own prior inability
to control his lusts, but also because he was in the public eye and did not
want to invite any rumors. Even his sister, a widow who had devoted
herself to God, was not allowed to live with him. Rather, handmaidens
cared her for in her own house. His nieces who likewise had made vows to
God were often kept at a necessary arm's length.
In 410, the Visigoth leader Alaric captured the city of Rome. The shock
waves of this event were felt throughout the entire empire. The Roman
Empire, with the city itself at the center, was generally felt to be permanent
and unconquerable. But the effects felt in Africa were not merely
emotional. Although Alaric was a Christian, he was of the Arian
persuasion, so Catholics from all over the western Roman Empire poured
into Africa, fearing what may happen to them under the Arians.
The times were most definitely uncertain. In Africa, it was also a time of
heightened violence and clashes between Donatists and Catholics. Emperor
Honarius therefore sent a tribune to Africa to settle the question once and
for all. Donatism and Catholicism would meet in officially sanctioned
debates, and whichever side was proclaimed the victor would have the legal
faith.
Augustine was strongly in favor of this imperial involvement. He had, after
all, been trying to get the Donatists to debate him for some time. In order to
show them good will, he turned to the Catholic bishops in order to issue a
joint agreement. It stated that the Catholics would approve of any ruling the
Emperor's tribune made, even surrendering their churches if they were
found to have the unlawful faith. In case they were proclaimed the winners,
however, they would still allow Donatists to keep their offices, letting
Donatist bishops be Catholic bishops. The Donatists for their part made no
such gesture.
At the initial meeting, the Donatists made a great show of numbers, calling
upon as many of their Bishops to attend as possible, and trying to keep
down the number of Catholics in attendance by publicly questioning the
way they had been consecrated. Among those rejected were, of course,
Augustine, having been appointed to a city where there already was a
Bishop. The final count showed 284 Donatist bishops to 286 Catholics.
Each side was told to choose seven speakers, seven advisers or researchers
to back them up, and four men to keep records. Even so, the Donatists all
showed up en masse on the opening day of discussions, and demanded to
all be received. They then refused to sit down with sinners. Marcellinus, the
tribune, was a layman and could not sit down while Bishops were standing,
so he had to conduct the entire hearing on his feet.
The Donatists had further demands. They required all bishops to show
credentials, so that everyone could tell that they were truly allowed to
represent their local church. They also demanded that reports be taken in
long-hand, so that they could easily see if reporting was done accurately.
Many of the Catholic bishops, it turned out during these proceedings, were
illiterate.
Augustine, Aurelius, and Alypius were all among those chosen to speak for
the Catholics, and it was hard for the Donatists to try to match these men's
rhetorical, legal, and organizational wisdom. Commentators have argued
that there was little evidence of organization at all in the Donatist defense.
They focused rather on delaying, obstructing, and questioning their
opponents' legitimacy, than on arguing for their cause. As Augustine spoke,
they heckled him, shouted, and tried to make sure that he was not heard.
Alypius, a true lawyer, the record shows, proclaimed, “Let the record show
that they are interrupting him.”
On June 26, 411, Marcellinus made his decision. Donatists were officially
heretics, and not allowed to own churches, hold offices or have meetings.
They were also to be fined for not attending Catholic Church. Enforcement,
however, was patchy at best. Fines were hard to collect, and some leading
Donatists managed to hold onto their churches for a whole decade after the
edict. Violent resistance occurred and a number of Catholic priests were
mutilated or murdered.
In all of this, Augustine was still a proponent of peace. He did not want the
Donatists harmed, and again he promised their bishops that they would
retain their offices if they came into the Catholic Church. He would himself
preach in his Basilica on alternating weeks, sharing the duty with the
Donatist bishop in Hippo. Many contemporaries found Augustine far too
lenient in this matter.
It was during this time that Augustine was working on The City of God, one
of his most important works. At the same time, he was putting the finishing
touches on another of his greatest works, On the Trinity, which he had
begun a full decade earlier.
Much of Augustine's time must have been taken up by the writing and
dictation of letters. When he could not attend public debates in person, he
took them up in letter. Throughout 412 he wrote intensively on the subject
of the heresies of Pelagius, which were gaining popularity in Africa. He
exchanged several letters with Saint Jerome, and for years he maintained a
lengthy argument with Bishop Julian of Eclanum entirely by letter. More
than 250 of Saint Augustine's letters remain today.
By 418, Augustine had clearly become an international celebrity. He was
asked by Pope Zosimus to lead a panel of African bishops in settling an
ecclesiastical conflict in the neighboring province, Mauretani.
The Final Years
In the 420s, a new wave of relics came from the Holy Land, along with
miracles. The world was changing. Augustine was slowing down. He turned
over many of his duties, and set about revising his books. It was not simply
a matter of changing opinions, but growing understanding as well. There
were works that he had composed while a layman, or early in his
ecclesiastical career, and less educated in scripture or the nature of God.
Those works he took it upon himself to either censor or update. This was
something that he could do with relative effectiveness, because Augustine
closely guarded the copying of his books. In antiquity, books had to be
copied by hand and was usually done so far out of the reach of the author.
Often, only select bits were copied. But, for most part, Augustine preferred
to have people write to him for copies of his books so that he could control
the contents.
Like the Visigoths had descended upon Italy, twenty years earlier, the
Vandals descended upon Africa. One by one the cities fell to the Arian
Vandals. People flocked to Hippo Regius, as it was a fortified city.
Unfortunately, this was not enough to keep them safe. The Vandals besieged
the city for over a year.
Augustine was by this time already very ill, but the nature of his illness or
at what time it first showed itself is not known. He saw his own sickness
and how it would take him, and preferred that it did so sooner rather than
later. In response to the Vandal siege, he prayed with his brothers:
I would have you know that in this time of our misfortune I ask this of
God: either that He may be pleased to free this city which is
surrounded by the foe, or if something else seems good in His sight,
that He make His servants brave for enduring His will, or at least that
He may take me from this world unto Himself.
Augustine's health declined rapidly during the siege, and he found himself
confined to his bed. This must have been terribly frustrating for a man who
had always been incredibly busy, in both mind and body. When a stranger
came to his bedside to be healed, he told him that if he had any power to
heal anyone, surely, the stranger must understand, that he would have
already healed himself. But the stranger told him that God had spoken to
him in a dream, and told him to come to Augustine. And so, as by a
miracle, Augustine lay his hands on the sickly man and healed him.
Alas, Augustine could not heal himself. His prayer was answered on August
28, 430. He was taken from this life, and from the besieged city of Hippo, at
age 76.
In his last days, Augustine was confined to bed. He had asked his monks to
copy for him the penitential psalms of David. They hung from the wall next
to his bed, so that he may read them and repent. To do this, he asked that no
one came to him except when the physician would come to check on him or
a brother came to feed him. He wept openly and constantly.
Augustine was buried in Hippo. According to the True Martyrology, by the
Venerable Bede, the body of the saint was later moved to Sardinia by
Catholic bishops fleeing Africa after the invasion of the Vandals.
The body was moved once more in the 8th century, to Pavia in northern
Italy, where it was thought the relics of the saint would be safe from
Muslim raiders. There the body of Augustine remained until the early 18th
century, when it was moved to Milan. The remains of Augustine have since
been reinstated in Pavia.
The miracles of Saint Augustine after his death were not reported by Saint
Possidius. They remain rather in the compilations of saint legends. One
such miracle relates to the relics of Saint Augustine.
A man with particularly great devotion to Saint Augustine, it is said in
Lives of the Saints, paid a monk a great sum for the finger of the saint.
Fingers were a popular relic at the time, so this in itself was not terribly
uncommon.
The monk, however, took the man's money and gave him, instead of the
finger of the saint, the finger of an unknown dead man, wrapped in silk. The
buyer received it with great reverence and honored the relic daily. Because
he was a good and faithful man, God decided to set right this malicious
deed and replaced the finger with Augustine's, after which several miracles
were worked.
When word came to the abbey that this good man had the finger of
Augustine, the monk swore to the abbot that he had sold him another man's
finger. Yet, when they opened the tomb of Saint Augustine the finger was
missing.
Seeker, Speaker, Saint
Although he taught on the nature of God, and although he led many into his
open arms, Saint Augustine was forever a spiritual seeker. His desire to
understand the world around him, his desire for virtue, and his desire for
logic, urged him on a winding path.
It caused him to rejoice in the pagan classics, whose leading men battled
with nature and showed great heroic virtue. It caused him to see the beauty
in reasoning and asking difficult questions, as philosophy did, and it let him
take on the world view of the Manichaeans. It likewise caused him to keep
asking questions, to look at science, to shun and to fall away from that same
faith. Having finally found a home in the Catholic Church, his desires kept
urging him into deeper contemplation, and further seeking into the nature of
the Divine.
Like so many with a seeking and questioning nature, Augustine had trouble
accepting the faith of his childhood, which he had so strongly rejected in his
formative years. Yet, when the need was strong, it was right there waiting
for him. In the meantime, however, Augustine's rejection of Christianity
colored his relationship with his Christian parent. Her influence on him and
his faith was sadly something that Augustine never truly understood or
appreciated until she had already passed away. His mother's profound
influence on him was something he came to treasure in later years.
If Augustine was a seeker foremost, then he was a speaker second. Having
received an education in rhetoric certainly helped, but Augustine's
reputation implies also a strong natural inclination. He was a successful
teacher, and even as a Manichaean he was a strong debater and is known to
have created converts for that religion with his speeches. As a Christian, his
ability to speak propelled him into the public eye. Had he not been an
excellent orator, it is doubtful that we would have known anything about
Saint Augustine at all.
But, it was not his high brow orations that made Augustine an excellent
speaker. It was his ability to relate to the listener. Certainly, he was known
for his verbal fireworks, the little extras that amaze the crowd, but it was his
use of popular language, slang, witticisms, and puns that drew the people to
him. Augustine could read the crowd and speak to them in a way that
appealed to them.
Augustine the saint was a humble man who did not proclaim to work
miracles. When a man came to him with a sickly relative, asking to be
healed, Augustine himself said that he was not a healer. It was only when
the man told him that he had heard God's voice telling him that Augustine
could heal his relative that Augustine did God's will and healed the sick
man. Although, by the time of this event, Augustine changed his opinion on
the prevalence of miracles, his early position on miracles was one of
skepticism.
Because Augustine lived in the 4th and 5th century, a time when saints were
proclaimed by the Catholic people rather than by the Pope, Saint Augustine
has never been officially canonized. He was however recognized as a
Doctor of the Church in 1298, by Pope Boniface VIII. He is the patron saint
of theologians, printers, and brewers. His feast day is on August 28 in the
Catholic Church, on June 15 in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and on
November 4 in the Assyrian Church of the East.
Prayers by Saint Augustine
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see
what you believe.
Act of Hope
For your mercies' sake, O Lord my God, tell me what you are to me.
Say to my soul: "I am your salvation."
So speak that I may hear, O Lord; my heart is listening; open it that it may
hear you, and say to my soul: "I am your salvation."
After hearing this word, may I come in haste to take hold of you.
Hide not your face from me.
Let me see your face even if I die, lest I die with longing to see it.
The house of my soul is too small to receive you; let it be enlarged by you.
It is all in ruins; do you repair it.
There are thing in it - I confess and I know - that must offend your sight.
But who shall cleanse it? Or to what others besides you shall I cry out?
From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord, and from those of others spare
your servant.
Amen.
Act of Petition
Give me yourself, O my God, give yourself to me.
Behold I love you, and if my love is too weak a thing,
grant me to love you more strongly.
I cannot measure my love to know how much it falls short of being
sufficient, but let my soul hasten to your embrace and never be turned away
until it is hidden in the secret shelter of your presence.
This only do I know, that it is not good for me when you are not with me,
when you are only outside me. I want you in my very self.
All the plenty in the world which is not my God is utter want.
Amen.
Breathe in Me, Holy Spirit
Breathe in me O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy;
Act in me O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy;
Draw my heart O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy;
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy;
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.
Amen.
Lord Jesus, Let Me Know Myself
Lord Jesus, let me know myself and know You,
And desire nothing save only You.
Let me hate myself and love You.
Let me do everything for the sake of You.
Let me humble myself and exalt You.
Let me think of nothing except You.
Let me die to myself and live in You.
Let me accept whatever happens as from You.
Let me banish self and follow You,
And ever desire to follow You.
Let me fly from myself and take refuge in You,
That I may deserve to be defended by You.
Let me fear for myself, let me fear You,
And let me be among those who are chosen by You.
Let me distrust myself and put my trust in You.
Let me be willing to obey for the sake of You.
Let me cling to nothing save only to You,
And let me be poor because of You.
Look upon me, that I may love You.
Call me that I may see You,
And for ever enjoy You.
Amen.
Prayer for the Indwelling of the Spirit
Holy Spirit, powerful Consoler, sacred Bond of the Father and the Son,
Hope of the afflicted, descend into my heart and establish in it your loving
dominion. Enkindle in my tepid soul the fire of your Love so that I may be
wholly subject to you. We believe that when you dwell in us, yolu also
prepare a dwelling for the Father and the Son. Deign, therefore, to come to
me, Consoler of abandoned souls, and Protector of the needy. Help the
afflicted, strengthen the weak, and support the wavering. Come and purify
me.
Let no evil desire take possession of me. You love the humble and resist the
proud. Come to me, glory of the living, and hope of the dying. Lead me by
your grace that I may always be pleasing to you.
Amen.
Prayer for the Sick
Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give
your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest your weary ones.
Bless your dying ones.
Soothe your suffering ones.
Pity your afflicted ones.
Shield your joyous ones.
And for all your love's sake.
Amen.
Prayer of Joy at the Birth of Jesus
Let the just rejoice, for their Justifict is born.
Let the sick and infirm rejoice, for their Savior is born.
Let the captives rejoice, for their Redeemer is born.
Let slaves rejoice, for their Master is born.
Let free people rejoice, for their Liberator is born.
Let all Christians rejoice, for Jesus Christ is born.
Amen.
Prayer of Trust in God’s Heavenly Promise
My God, let me know and love you, so that I may find my happiness in
you. Since I cannot fully achieve this on earth, help me to improve daily
until I may do so to the full Enable me to know you ever more on earth, so
that I may know you perfectly in heaven. Enable me to love you ever more
on earth, so that I may love you perfectly in heave. In that way my joy may
be great on earth, and perfect with you in heaven.
O God of truth, grant me the happiness of heaven so that my joy may be full
in accord with your promise. In the meantime let my mind dwell on that
happiness, my tongue speak of it, my heart pine for it, my mouth pronounce
it, my soul hunger for it, my flesh thirst for it, and my entire being desire it
until I enter through death in the joy of my Lord forever.
Amen.
Prayer on Finding God after a Long Search
Too late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient, O Beauty so new.
Too late have I loved you!
You were within me but I was outside myself, and there I sought you!
In my weakness I ran after the beauty of the things you have made.
You were with me, and I was not with you.
The things you have made kept me from you - the things which would have
no being unless they existed in you!
You have called, you have cried, and you have pierced my deafness.
You have radiated forth, you have shined out brightly,
and you have dispelled my blindness.
You have sent forth your fragrance, and I have breathed it in, and I long for
you.
I have tasted you, and I hunger and thirst for you.
You have touched me, and I ardently desire your peace.
Amen.
Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Mercy
Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanks
for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent! Receive our
gratitude, and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our
prayers into the sanctuary of heaven and enable them to make our peace
with God.
Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the
sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all
women consecrated to God. May all who venerate you feel now your help
and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray, and bring back to us the
answers to our prayers. Make it your continual concern to pray for the
people of God, foryou were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear
the Redeemer of the world, who lives and reigns forever. Amen.
Prayer to Seek God Continually
O Lord my God, I believe in you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Insofar as I
can, insofar as you have given me the power, I have sought you. I became
weary and I loabored.
O Lord my God, my sole hope, help me to believe and never ro cease
seeking you. Grant that I may always and ardently seek out your
countenance. Give me the strength to seek you, for you help me to find you
and you have more and more given me the hope of finding you.
Here I am before you with my firmness and my infirmity. Preserve the first
and heal the second.
Here I am before you with my stregnth and my ignorance. Where you have
opened the door to me, welcome me at the entrance; where you have closed
the door to me, open to my cry; enable me to remember you, to understand
you, and to love you. Amen.
Watch, O Lord
Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight,
and give Your angels and saints charge over those who sleep.
Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ. Rest Your weary ones.
Bless Your dying ones.
Soothe Your suffering ones.
Pity Your afflicted ones.
Shield Your joyous ones, and all for Your love's sake.
Amen.
You are Christ
You are Christ,
my Holy Father,
my Tender God,
my Great King,
my Good Shepherd,
my Only Master,
my Best Helper,
my Most Beautiful and my Beloved,
my Living Bread,
my Priest Forever,
my Leader to my Country,
my True Light,
my Holy Sweetness,
my Straight Way,
my Excellent Wisdom,
my Pure Simplicity,
my Peaceful Harmony,
my Entire Protection,
my Good Portion,
my Everlasting Salvation.
Christ Jesus, Sweet Lord,
why have I ever loved,
why in my whole life
have I ever desired anything except You,
Jesus my God?
Where was I when I was not in spirit with You?
Now, from this time forth,
do you, all my desires, grow hot,
and flow out upon the Lord Jesus:
run... you have been tardy until now;
hasten where you are going;
seek Whom you are seeking.
O, Jesus may he who loves You
not be an anathema;
may he who loves You
not be filled with bitterness.
O, Sweet Jesus,
may every good feeling that is fitted for Your praise,
love You, delight in You, adore You!
God of my heart,
and my Portion, Christ Jesus,
may my heart faint away in spirit,
and may You be my Life within me!
May the live coal of Your Love
grow hot within my spirit
and break forth into a perfect fire;
may it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart;
may it glow in my innermost being;
may it blaze in hidden recesses of my soul;
and in the days of my consummation
may I be found consummated with You!
Amen.
Prayers to Saint Augustine
Prayer I
Beloved Saint of our age, Saint Augustine, you were at first wholly humancentered
and attached to false teachings.
Finally converted through God's grace, you became a praying theologian --
God-centered, God-loving, and God-preaching.
Help theologians in their study of revealed truth.
Let them always follow the Church Magisterium as they strive to
communicate traditional teachings in a new form that will appeal to our
contemporaries.
Amen.
Litany to Saint Augustine
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary,
pray for us.
Holy Mother of God,
pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins,
pray for us.
Holy Father Augustine,
pray for us.
Saint Augustine, example of contrite souls,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, son of the tears of thy mother Monica,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, light of teachers,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, exterminator of heresies,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, illustrious warrior against the foes of the Church,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, pillar of the True Faith,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, vessel of Divine Wisdom,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, rule of conduct for apostolic life,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, whose heart was inflamed with the fire of Divine Love,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, humble and merciful father,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, zealous preacher of the Word of God,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, illumined expounder of Sacred Scripture,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, ornament of bishops,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, light of the True Faith,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, noble defender of Holy Church,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, refulgence of the glory of God,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, blossoming olive tree of the House of God,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, indefatigable adorer of the Most Holy Trinity,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, inexhaustible fountain of Christian eloquence,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, shining mirror of holiness,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, model of all virtues,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, consoler of the distressed,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, comforter of the forsaken,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, friend and helper of the poor,
pray for us.
St. Augustine, our father,
pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us, O Lord.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Let Us Pray
O God, Who didst disclose to Saint Augustine
the hidden mysteries of Thy wisdom
and didst enkindle in his heart
the flame of Divine Love,
thus renewing in Thy Church
the pillar of cloud and fire,
graciously grant that we may pass safely
through the storms of this world
and reach the eternal fatherland
which Thou didst promise us,
through Christ Our Lord.
Amen
The Life of Saint Thomas Aquinas
An Introduction to His Life
The compilation of Latin primary sources on the life of Saint Thomas
Aquinas, known as the Fontes Vitae Sancti Thomae Aquinatis---recently
published to give wider accessibility--- establishes 1227 as the year of
Aquinas’ birth, often assigned as 1225, January 28. All agree that he died in
1274.
The story lingers about his mother Theodora, whom, during her pregnancy
with her eighth child, a holy hermit visited to inform her that her son would
enter the Order of Friars Preachers (The Dominicans), and that his learning
and sanctity would exceed all others. The hermit’s vision was not father
Count Landulf or Countess Theodora’s plan, given their close connection to
the more established and socially acceptable Benedictines of which an
uncle was abbot at Monte Cassino. Thomae Aquinatis may have been born
in a castle in Lombardo, near Naples, Italy, descended from Henry VI and
Frederick II and emperors of the Roman Empire, but God’s call would
trump all others’ attempts to steer him otherwise.
Their plans for their son in place---or so they thought--- Countess Theodora
and Count Landulf entered Thomas, at age five, into the Benedictine abbey
where his uncle was abbot. From the start, he was educated in Latin,
grammar, logic, and rhetoric. As a teenager he was exposed to the
disciplines we moderns would recognize as a classic liberal arts education.
Add theology and philosophy to the mix of music, mathematics, and
astronomy, and Thomas was already beginning to hone a skill that would
distinguish him for all of time: defending his knowledge through the use of
rhetoric.
Thomas’ preceptor could not help but notice the boy’s persistent
questioning, “What is God?” The abbot, his uncle, insisted Thomas’ talents
would be wasted at Monte Cassino. In 1239 he was sent to Naples to study
at the University. Some say it was the war that broke out between Emperor
Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX that came so close to home that caused
Thomas’ parents send him to Naples to protect him. In either case, God’s
plans were in place.
In Naples, Thomas expressed an interest in studying the Holy Orders of the
newly formed mendicants, the Dominicans. Founded around the same time
as the Franciscans, it was their radical evangelical ideal of poverty, their
mobility, and their devotion to study that drew the burgeoning man of faith,
the scholar. Meanwhile, as a student at university he had access to the
ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and to the finest minds in Europe.
One of his favorite contacts was with a Dominican brother, John of St.
Julian, who challenged him in all matters theological and devotional and
who helped Thomas, at 19, discern a definitive call to monastic life as a
Dominican.
Thomas knew this call would upset his family. The brothers sent him to
Rome, but Theodora’s determination to stop this nonsense knew no bounds.
She had Thomas’ brothers kidnap him and imprison him at a fortress in San
Giovanni at Rocca Secca. His family set out for the next eighteen monthsor-
so to destroy his vocation. They even sent a prostitute to challenge his
virtue. The earliest biography says Thomas drove the temptress away with a
hot brand and received a visit from two angels in a dream who promised
him “the girdle of perpetual virginity” and lifelong relief from carnal
desires.
God used Thomas’ time in captivity to further his vocation and education.
His sister brought him books: the Bible, Aristotle’s Metaphysics---by now
Thomas’ lifelong intellectual ties to Aristotle had begun---to name a few,
while the brothers supplied him with new habits and received letters from
the captive. For whatever reason, perhaps that Theodora realized the futility
of resisting the hermit’s vision and her son’s determination, Thomas was
freed, let down by a basket into the arms of his brothers who proclaimed,
“he had made as much progress as if he had been in a stadium generale.”
(“Fontes Vitai”) Finally, Thomas was free to don his Dominican habit in
public and was sent forth to pursue highest intellectual pursuits. After the
Pope’s blessing, he was presented before Johannes von Wildeshausen, the
Master General to the Dominicans.
If ambition had had the upper hand, Thomas could have returned to Monte
Cassino as Abbot by invitation of the Pope. Instead, he was sent to the
College of St. James in Paris, then the intellectual center of Christendom.
There, Friar Thomas met his mentor and teacher, Chair of Theology,
Albertus Magnus. Under the master’s influence, Thomas’ intellectual
trajectory would be changed forever. Essentially, Albertus was rooted in the
Scholastic tradition, the method of teaching that dominated the schools of
Western Europe in the medieval period.
The “Schoolmen” they were called, were Christians, many of whom
believed that knowledge could be achieved only by faith, but not so
Albertus. He was among those scholars who believed the metaphysical
quest of the Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato could complement
the spiritual quest of theologians, past and present. Because of his broad
range of scholarly interests---in other disciplines as well--- and mastery,
Albertus Magnus was designated Doctor Universlis. It was his impact on
his student, Thomas that shaped Aquinas’ masterpiece, Summa Theologica,
a work that remains central to Catholic study and teaching worldwide.
Friar Thomas was eager to stay with his teacher Albertus who, when
assigned regent of the stadium generale in Cologne, Thomas followed.
From 1248-1252 Thomas worked as the equivalent of Assistant Professor.
At first, Thomas was awkward and self-effacing. When he failed his first
theological disputation, his fellows pronounced him “dumb ox,” but Albert
pronounced back: “We call this young man a dumb ox, but his bellowing in
doctrine will one day resound throughout the world!” In 1250, Thomas was
ordained to the priesthood by Conrad of Hochstaden, archbishop of
Cologne.
Albertus Magnus and others, who recognized Thomas’ brilliance,
recommended to the master general that he send Aquinas to fill the office of
sub-regent in the Dominican stadium in Paris. Here Aquinas’ public career
began; professors and students were drawn to him. His order and attempt to
receive his Doctor of Theology led to bitter dispute among faculty. The
secular masters among the faculty were worried that the Dominicans and
Franciscans would dominate among the chairs of the faculty, so they
refused to admit Aquinas and his Franciscan colleague Bonaventure.
Aquinas wrote a treatise as an apology (not as in “we’re sorry”, but as in
“here’s what the Franciscans and Dominicans stand for”) for the mendicant
orders and in 1256 the Pope ordered that the friars’ be admitted with their
degrees.
In 1256 Aquinas was made Regent Master of Theology, teaching at the
University of Paris until 1259. Before returning to Paris he taught for ten
years in Orvieto, Rome, and Viterbo. While teaching brother friars he
continued his study of Aristotle, and was engrossed in the writings of the
Fathers of the Church. “He worked with the spirit of a missionary,” wrote
Martian, “in the cause of truth against error.” He wrote a liturgy for the feast
of Corpus Christi to honor the body of Christ in the Eucharist. At this time
he was caught up in an age-old dispute between the Roman and Greek
Orthodox churches that, for centuries, had been feuding over the
excommunication of the Eastern Church by the Pope two centuries earlier.
Pope Urban IV requested that Aquinas write a piece in defense of the
Pope’s arguments against those of the eastern Christians. The work was
titled Against the Errors of the Greeks.
In 1265 he was moved again to Santa Sabina, a priory in Rome. There he
remained for three years to help get a school started. There, his
controversial debates that theology and philosophy were not only
compatible, but could enrich one another, began. Out of these debates, his
work on the Summa Theologica continued.
Meanwhile, back in Paris, a controversy was stirring over attraction to a
radical form of Aristotelianism, called Averroism. Averroes, a late-12th
century Arab philosopher, challenged Christian doctrine. Since Aquinas
was so closely allied with Aristotle’s thought, he too came under suspicion
for heresy, but was nonplussed that anyone could elevate the opinion of a
philosopher above the authority of the Holy Bible and Church teachings.
Because he was the only one whose intellect could effectively confront the
aberration, Aquinas was sent back to the University of Paris in 1268.
In January, 1274 he set out on foot to take part in a general council to open
in Lyons in May. He was asked to bring his treatise, “Against the Errors of
the Greeks.” He fell ill and was taken to his niece, Countess Francesca
Ceccano. Upon insistence of the Cistercian monks, he was transferred to
their monastery. Against medical advice, Aquinas felt that it would be better
for him to die in a religious house than in a layperson’s establishment.
Extreme unction was performed for him at which time he pronounced his
faith, affirming his belief in the articles of faith and assuring himself and
others of his loyalty to loving service to Christ, and his church.
He died on March 7, 1274, at forty-nine. Cries were put out for his
canonization, but no miracles had been witnessed. Pope John XXIII insisted
that every article of Aquinas’ Summa was a miracle and he canonized
Thomas Aquinas on July 18, 1323. 200 years later, Pope Pius V named him
Doctor of the Church and declared his feast day as important as that of
Saints Augustine and Ambrose. At the Council of Trent, S. Thomas’
Summa Theologica was placed on the alter next to the Bible.
In 1369, Pope Urban V ordered his body be given to the Dominicans, to be
interred at the Dominican Church in Toulouse.
Relics from his body are stored at the Cathedral in Naples and at the
University of Paris and in Rome at the Church of S. Maria Sopra Minerva.
In 1879, Pope Leo XIII declared Thomas Aquinas’ voluminous writings
definitive for Catholic teaching and instruction in Catholic seminaries
worldwide, thus instigating a revival of Thomism, often called neo-
Thomism. Some maintain that the driving intellectual force helped shape
circumstances leading to the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965. In 1880
S. Thomas was made patron saint of Catholic schools and colleges.
In 1998, Pope John Paul II issued an Encyclical, Fides et Ratio, in which he
called for renewed commitment of philosophers and theologians to the
thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, accounting for the modern context.
Medieval Scholasticism
A multiplicity of factors shaped Aquinas the person, the theologian, the
scholar. A combination that put him point and center among the greatest
Western intellectuals.
God planted Aquinas in fertile soil. As a young adult, Aquinas joined the
relatively new order, the Order of the Friars Preachers, or the Dominicans,
mendicant brothers equally devoted to scholarship and service to the
Gospel. They offered freedom of movement and exploration of the world
beyond cloister walls. The young Aquinas was allowed to mix with the best
minds of the burgeoning medieval universities, and to encounter ancient
philosophers of whom Aristotle became his central focus. Freedom to
engage inter-religious and secular dialogue, and to explore the intimate
relationships between nature and grace, presented for Aquinas the devout
Christian and theologian a platform for unprecedented intellectual pursuit.
The way that Aquinas thought and wrote, and his pedagogy should be
understood in the context of Medieval Scholasticism. Instead of the
professor (or then, master) writing his syllabus, the curriculum was set forth
in the charters of the school. There were clearly defined hoops a student had
to jump through, first to earn his baccalaureate (equivalent to our graduate
degree) that took six years, and then his masters--- another eight years---
required of anyone who wanted to teach. Of course, the universities
admitted only men.
An authoritative text from ancient philosophers (Aristotle, Plato),
theologians (Augustine, the church fathers, Muslims and Jews), not chosen
by the teacher/master were the works to be read, disputed, and resolved.
The introduction of Aristotle’s metaphysics, natural philosophy, and
analytics influenced this pedagogy called scholasticism, a method that is
believed to have dominated the schools from the twelfth century until the
beginning of the seventeenth. Peter Abelard’s Sic et Non (12th century),
demonstrated a scholastic approach to thinking and writing.
The university also put forth the principles of interpretation, or
hermeneutic. The student’s job was to apply the principles of interpretation
to exegete (take each word and section apart to examine the author’s
meaning) the assigned texts. Commentaries are used today as aids to
exegete texts from Scripture, for example, and are usually line-by-line
explications. Then, a commentary a student might use to understand the
texts, could be anything from exploring the essence of a word (what does
the word “beginning” mean in Genesis 1, for example) to an essay written
in the tone more like a sermon. Aquinas authored several commentaries,
among them, his most important on Job, the Psalms, Matthew, John, and
Paul’s Epistles.
If one was pursuing master status he had to deliver a disputation a couple of
times during the academic year. The master would present a question to
which the student would have to apply sophisticated logic to deliver a
negative and a positive response. The student had to defend views he did
not agree with. Another student was assigned to respond to the arguments
of the one giving the dispute. The master met with the students to determine
a resolution, or a systematic answer to the question in dispute. On this
format Aquinas based all most of his work.
The university had a school of philosophy and of theology, among other
“schools.” After a rigorous fourteen years of theological study, where the
Bible was the central text, to earn his “Master in the sacred Page” ( the
equivalent of our Ph.D.), Aquinas had to exegete and compile a
commentary on The Sentences. This was a complex compilation of difficult
texts from Scripture and the Church Fathers, compiled by Peter Abelard in
1160.
This was a piece from which Aquinas lectured over years, and it was
groundbreaking for his original scheme: things proceed from God as their
source, and they return to God in the end. His methodology clearly reflected
the philosopher’s and a discussion of how he merges the two disciplines is
forthcoming.
Therefore, it is important to understand that although he was
quintessentially a theologian, his intellect stretched so far as to integrate
philosophical metaphysics.
Aquinas’ genius lay in his ability to synthesize vast and disparate sources
into intelligible and convincing discourse.
As such, any historian of philosophy must include Thomas Aquinas in his
or her annals. At Aquinas’ death, masters in the Arts faculty at the
University of Paris requested of the Dominican general chapter that
Aquinas’ works begun there and not finished, be sent to them. It is amazing
that masters in other disciplines were showing an interest in the work of a
theologian, but one whose philosophy would be challenged, and venerated
over the centuries.
The Meeting of the Philosopher and the Theologian
Aquinas’ genius lay in his ability to merge two streams of thought, the
philosophy of the Greeks, specifically Aristotle, and Christian theology and
Church doctrine. It is as if he took one dance partner who refused to mix
with another of a different style (anti-intellectualism many of the Christian
theologians of his day), and joined them, arriving at an entirely new and
profoundly more complex and beautiful expression, which only the likes of
Aquinas could make understandable.
During most of its history, philosophy has been influenced by one or
another discipline, biology, physics, math, for example. Medieval
philosophy’s single influence was theism. Aquinas was quintessentially a
theologian, yet he was certain that the Greek emphasis on human beings’
rational and empirical intelligence could now serve the Christian cause.
Before Aquinas and his peers, generally, theological texts and religious
doctrine were deemed irrefutable. But, scholars of Aquinas’ caliber saw
philosophy as fodder to establish coherence, truth, and justification of his
Christian beliefs; although faith transcended reason, rational philosophy and
the scientific study of nature could enrich and expand doctrines of faith.
Although designated Doctor of the Church, to suggest Aquinas was
exclusively a theologian would be a mistake. His motivation, to find the
first cause of things, to acknowledge human beings’ basic desire to know, is
strictly Aristotelian.
In his copious works, Aquinas took up the concerns of the philosopher in
metaphysics, ethics, politics, and ontology. Fundamentally, the philosophy
in each of us desires to know, while the theologian in each of us, in
Aquinas’ interpretation, desires to know God. Aquinas, a devout Christian,
could not and would not separate the two.
Aquinas needed both philosophy and theology, because philosophy alone
was inadequate to prove God; human reason alone was not enough. While
humans’ desire to know the essence of God (what God is), philosophy
could not deliver with mere proof that there is a universal cause.
Philosophy’s theoretical base falls short of human desire for the satisfaction
and fulfillment of contemplating the essence of God. At length Aquinas
discussed Aristotle’s and other philosophers’ solutions to this problem.
Their solutions were not acceptable to Aquinas.
“Distress,” implying anguish, was the result of this gap in explanation.
Unlike his predecessor, Augustine, and his peer Bonaventure, he was able
to put Christian belief on a solid foundation.
In the opening of his Summa theologica Aquinas discusses the necessity of
theology. “Can God be seen in God’s essence?” is a question that troubles
Aquinas to conclude the affirmative. He draws upon foundational material
of Christian faith, the Bible, to prove that human fulfillment through divine
revelation is possible. “We shall see Him as He is,” (I John 3:2), and “For
now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.” (I Corinthians
3:2) For Aquinas, the “light of faith” which is God’s grace, illuminates the
natural light of reason and intellect. “Human beings are directed to God as
an end that surpasses the grasp of their reason.”
Hence, philosophy is guided by the light of natural reason, and theology is
guided by the light of faith, the latter perfecting the former. Although
Aquinas spent the last years of his brief life immersed in commentaries on
the work of Aristotle, his embedded Christian faith and orientation made it
impossible to imagine any Christian, in his words, could “philosophize as
though he or she had never heard of Christianity.” He often used the
metaphor of wine and water to explain the merger of the two disciplines:
“The water of philosophy was absorbed into the wine of theology.”
Aquinas, essentially, mediated Aristotle’s introduction into the medieval
West. By doing so, he in effect founded theology as a science. Almost every
topic he addressed: morality, ethics, God, the sacraments, politics, he
addressed in Aristotelian-metaphysical terms: matter and form, essence and
existence, first and final causality. Yet, the influence of each dancer on the
other is reciprocal.
Aquinas deepened Aristotle by giving him a new religious significance, or
as it has been said, Aquinas converted Aristotle to Christianity and baptized
him. It is also true that Aquinas converted medieval Christianity to Aristotle
and to the values he held. No, rational philosophy could not offer proof of
revealed truths in Scripture and Church doctrine. Aquinas embraced it all,
committing himself to uniting the two world-views in one great summa, the
Summa theologica, the synthesis of diverse elements exceeding the whole.
In the streams of Greek philosophy (Aristotle) and Christian faith and
doctrine he saw a unity that only his herculean effort and intellect could
fathom and articulate.
Of note, it would not be until the twentieth century before medieval
philosophy would be deemed as offering anything original, because of its
enmeshment with theism. Despite the great achievements of the period,
Gothic cathedrals and the forming of universities, ‘Medieval’ lacked the
luster of the Italian Renaissance and Greco-Roman periods surrounding it.
It has taken many scholarly pursuits to alter the pejorative perceptions of
medieval philosophy and to raise it to the platform it deserves.
The Existence of God
“Hence in the last resort all that man knows of God is to know that he does
not know Him, since he knows that what God is surpasses all that we can
understand of him.” -Thomas Aquinas
Part I, Question 2 of the Summa Theologica is perhaps the most often read
of Aquinas’ writings and it deals with the question of the existence of God.
Yet, in his day, it was hard for Aquinas to be passionate on this point
because proof of God was like “convincing” people today that technology is
important and here to stay. In short, no one in the thirteenth century
questioned the existence of God.
Jews, Muslims, pagans, even heretics of various expressions, and certainly
the Pope believed in God. Most would offer that it was not necessary to
prove God’s existence. The revelations of Scripture and the immutability of
Church doctrine were proof enough. Before Darwin, who maintained that
by chance and natural selection the natural world evolved, most people
accepted the existence of a grand Creator-designer of a magnificent natural
design.
Aquinas had a religious experience, so for him, this “sense experience” data
was sufficient proof. It is said that when he completed his Summa he
appeared ill. His scribe asked what the matter was and Aquinas said that
compared to what he had seen and experienced, everything else was straw.
But the scientist in Aquinas (Note: To the medieval thinker, science was
more than gaining knowledge through controlled observation and
measurement of the material world as we think of science today. Like any
good Aristotelian, scientia was any activity that involved reasoning from
principles to conclusions) led him to his discourse.
To reason the divine being, Aquinas conceded, was difficult, but he did
believe it was possible to talk, and therefore know something of God, a
meaningful pursuit, though limited. His doctrine of analogy would serve
this purpose. The pitfall for many in how Aquinas argued for the existence
of God. Aquinas stated that by applying natural philosophy in the same way
all natural phenomena were discussed, we can get to know God just as we
can know other mundane realities. That Aquinas believed the intellect could
grasp the innermost nature of God, even if grace were required, was as
radical to metaphysics as what Newton did with physics. Many considered
the inclusion of sense experience and reason to be heretical and pernicious
to faith.
The question stands: How can we come to know such an ineffable being?
Aquinas, the theologian, referred to Scripture, quoting God’s definition of
Himself to Moses: “I am what I am.” He called God, “He who is.” But he
refused to take God’s existence strictly on faith. Joining theology and
philosophy, Aquinas argued that God reveals himself in Scripture and in the
natural world. It was not scientists as we understand the discipline, then,
who studied the natural order, but philosophers who studied God as Creator
and source. Theologians talked about the nature of God and the Scriptural
revelations of God. Aquinas did both.
In the Summa Theologica Aquinas wrote five proofs for God, referred to as
The Five Ways, which became important to both Catholics and Protestants.
They were all based on the thinking of his predecessors. The First Way
argues that things change. One needs look no further than a tree in one’s
back yard to notice changes, either dramatic or subtle, over time. This proof
is very clear, because it is available to the senses. To explain the existence
of motion or change, there must, therefore, be a prime mover. Nothing can
change itself from potentiality (the tree’s leaves will turn colors in the fall)
to actuality (now the leaves are turned). As Aquinas put it, “omne quod
movetur ab alio movetar” ---whatever moves must be moved by something
not itself. For Aquinas, God is First Mover, and the cause of God’s own
existence.
The Second Way closely resembles the First. Here, he argues that there
cannot be an infinite series of causes. Just as something can’t move itself,
something cannot cause itself. There has to be a beginning cause. Imagine
people standing in a line one behind the other, to infinity. One person tells
the other she will step out of the line if the other does. Merely saying she
will move if the other does does not constitute a move. Someone’s move
has to not be contingent upon another’s moving. At the beginning of time,
argues Aquinas, someone had to start things up. The first uncaused cause is
God whom Aquinas calls “the first efficient cause.”
The Third Way, propounded by an Arabic writer, Ign Sina, adopted by
Aquinas, claimed that God is “The Necessary of Existence.” A very
familiar phenomenon in the world is that things come into being and they
pass out of being. Aquinas called all ephemeral beings ‘possible beings’
because by their nature they can exist and not exist. He argued that if they
are dependent on something beyond themselves, there was a point they did
not exist.
“The being having its own necessity in itself”---or a necessary Being--- is
God.
What Aquinas posed in the first three Ways is “why is there anything,
instead of nothing?” Just because something has the potential to actualize
does’t mean it will. Something has to actualize its potential.
The Fourth Way reflected Plato’s concepts of ideal forms, or degrees of
perfection in the world. A fully developed human being was ‘better’ on
Aquinas’ metaphysical hierarchy than a less developed, younger version of
that human being. If things could be rated ‘more’ or ‘less,’ ‘better’ or
‘worse,’ there must be a perfect standard against which to measure.
Somewhere there was a superlative, one whose “noblest” compared to one’s
“noble.” That one is God.
The Fifth Way, Aquinas based on the thinking of the Eastern ninth century
Theologian, John Demascene. He posited that natural things tend to act in
an intentional, deliberate way, thus with a goal or purpose in view. Aquinas
believed that human intentions were ‘good,’ even if the purpose was faulty.
Of course, other creatures who can’t reason don’t pursue goals with ‘good’
in mind or with a purpose. They simply behave on instinct. For those who
can’t reason a goal or a purpose, a higher intelligence must direct them, like
the archer aims and releases the arrow to its target. The archer, of course, is
God. Order and purpose can’t be just by chance, a notion that would be
challenged later by astronomers and evolutionists.
Some may argue that this theory can’t hold water today, for the central
reason that “God” is relegated to the status of the others in the infinite line
of physical reality, and since astronomy and Darwin have entered the
conversation. The warning to readers of the Summa, is to not limit God to
“Best Being of all” status, for God is ground and condition for all other
beings, a reality of a different order altogether.
How does one talk about God? Only by means of analogy, according to
Aquinas.
Ultimately, God is ineffable, but again, Aquinas maintains rational beings
can get a glimpse of divine nature. If humans can encounter the perfection
of “wisdom” or “knowledge,” then, to some extent humans can know
something of the nature of the divine. We can’t know about God directly,
but we can know about the creature as proportioned to the Creator.
We can observe, like a modern scientist, through sense experience, and
from those empirical observations we can infer about God. God is the
standard of excellence, and the physical or moral characteristics we observe
in the natural world, say, ‘beauty,’‘honor,’ ‘integrity,’ are reflections of a
much more excellent God. The expressions of ‘beauty,’ for example, are not
equivocal, that is, on the same continuum.
God’s ‘beauty’ is distinct from the creature’s. God is the ultimate and true
exemplar of creation. And given that essence and existence are distinct with
respect to humankind, and are the same with respect to God, Creator and
creature cannot belong to the same class.
God as first cause and ground of being, supreme Form (an active principle,
a dynamism) drawing nature forth. God cannot be “captured,” “boxed in,”
or fully known. Even Aquinas, with the exceptional tool of his intellect, and
in spite of accusations to the contrary, would never arrogate that he could,
through reason, explain God. Qui est: “He who is” was as close as Moses
got and as close as we could expect to get.
Soul
For Aquinas, after Aristotle, the soul is the actualizing principle of all living
things. The question of the soul’s existence and immortality trouble modern
minds; even the word “soul” today has been replaced by many modern
philosophers with the word “mind,” to mean the brain. Aristotle thought of
body and soul as united as matter and form. But this was problematic for
anyone who believed that forms whose purpose was to animate the body
could survive after the body’s demise. The soul’s essence, its powers, its
immortality captivated Aquinas, ideas that present complex terrain.
Aquinas held that souls inhabit all living things, but they vary, depending
on the beings they occupy. Aquinas called a plant soul nutritive and
vegetative. As a matter of interest, his thoughts on the soul-nature of a
human embryo was that as a zygote, the human’s soul was of a nutritive or
vegetative state like a plant’s soul, therefore, at conception the embryo was
not fully human, a direct contradiction of the teachings of the Catholic
Church on abortion. He would, however, change his thinking in his writings
on abortion in his work on ethics and the law in the Summa Theologica.
Non-human animals can sense, so he called them ‘sensory.’ Humans can
reason, so he called the human soul ‘rational.’ The human soul has the
powers of will (choice) and intellect.
According to Aquinas, the nature of the human soul was comprised of
substantial and of subsistent forms. The substantial form of the soul unites
to the body, the two together constituting a human being. In its subsistent
form, the soul has the power to exist apart from the body. How can the two
exist at the same time, apart from and as part of the body? Resolving this
contradiction was dicey, and it is considered one of Aquinas’ greatest
intellectual achievements, the discussion of which continues further on.
Aquinas’ arguments for the physical nature of the soul, that the soul is a
body, stems from his arguments on motion. The soul must have contact with
the body if, indeed, the soul is the cause of the body’s movement. If the soul
knows bodies, then it must be a body also. Just as in the scholastic
disputations of the university, Aquinas made counter-arguments to the
belief that the soul is a body.
Unlike Plato’s dualism, separating body and soul to speak of what it meant
to be human, Aquinas insisted that the body is central to the concept of
being human. Of course, soul alone can’t perform the functions required to
be a human being. The soul does play a crucial role in the body’s functions.
The specter, still, was Aquinas’ belief that the soul can exist apart from the
body, yet to label him a dualist like Plato and Descartes would not be
accurate. He was ingenious in devising a way for the body to be one with
the soul, and separate from it. He maintained that after the body
disintegrated, the body and soul must, therefore, be reunited. His ingenious
solution of the resurrection of the body would have appalled Aristotle. After
death, the soul would be able to identify the body from which it had
separated.
For Aquinas the soul’s powers were will (appetite/desire) and intellect
(rational). The two act interdependently, so in every voluntary action they
are working together toward universal good. The intellect is a higher power
than the will because its object is the nature of good things desired, while
will desires the good things themselves. This begs the question of Aquinas:
is it better to know than to love?
What of immortality? Aquinas reasoned that if humans showed such a
strong desire to live, it must be in our essential nature to desire immortality.
His arguments here, are influenced perhaps more by his Christian theology
that affirms resurrection to eternal life through faith in Christ. As
philosopher he had the conundrum of finding a way for the form of the soul
to exist apart from the matter of the body. He did this by claiming the soul
has form as simple (non-composite) and subsistent, so the soul has being in
its own right. It can act on its own, and therefore exist on its own. While
separated from the body, says Aquinas, the soul enters another mode of
being. It takes on something like an angelic state, yet it is still inferior to
angels. It can perform its activity without recourse to the brain. Apart from
the body it cannot function perfectly.
To attain happiness the soul must reunite with the body, which happens only
by grace; the body-soul being must be restored to right relationship with
God. Here, both philosopher and theologian meet to rejoin the form of the
soul with the matter of the body, and to resurrect the dead as Christ was
resurrected to eternal life.
Epistemology
“Epistemology” means theory of knowledge, and unlike his predecessors,
Aquinas’ interest was something more like a description of the process of
achieving knowledge. He began his metaphysics with the statement that all
humans desire to know, and that the distinguishing feature of human beings
is that we can think. That we are intellectual beings---for better or for
worse---had much to do with his conception of humans’ relationship with
God.
The beginning of the process of knowing was, like for Aristotle, sensory
perception. Sensory cognition is the foundation of his epistemology. Our
senses are merely a beginning, by making us aware of the material world
around us. Knowledge is the ultimate goal. The senses (sight, smell,
hearing, touch, sound), though trustworthy when they function normally, do
not meet the requirements for knowledge. They cannot in and of themselves
perceive the completeness of the thing being perceived. Both external sense
and internal senses are required to grasp knowledge of something in its
completeness. The external senses cannot meet up to the criteria for
knowledge, which Aquinas, after Plato and Aristotle, defines as universal,
immaterial, and immutable.
The senses can’t grasp an object in universal terms. I may see and hear and
smell a horse and say that galloping, spotted thing is a horse, but I do not
really know this thing I have seen, because my senses do not provide
knowledge in the fullest sense. Aquinas describes in detail the stages of the
process of arriving at knowledge.
Seeing, smelling, and hearing the horse is the first stage in the process. Our
sense organs receive the sight, sound, and smell of the horse. These
qualities come to reside in the sense powers as de-materialized forms,
different than the matter of the horse when first perceived.
They are now what Aquinas calls ‘species.’ The internal senses come into
play to, in effect, organize the data taken in by the sense powers. Those are
known as the ‘common sense’ powers. The cognitive process proceeds to
the next step, the making of a likeness to the complete, individual object, or
what Aquinas calls the ‘phantasm’---the non-material but likeness of the
horse.
The notion that knowledge must come from the things themselves was new
in Aquinas’ day. Empirical knowledge was by-passed by appealing to a
higher power, a divine idea (Plato) or a prior source. Aquinas believed the
human mind’s ‘nobler’ element enabled it to abstract valid universals form
sense impressions. Aquinas’ empiricist approach, along with his theological
convictions and experience, convinced him that things can be known within
sensory experience. The agent intellect is required to find the universal in
the horse we perceive and to have knowledge of things that are immaterial.
The horse’s potential intelligibility becomes actually intelligible in the
process of our coming to know the horse. This process he calls ‘intellectual
apprehension.’ Our external senses sort the horse’s characteristics based on
the impression it makes on each sense organ. Our internal senses (common
sense and imagination) and intellect put the horse back together as the
complete individual object (phantasm), and then into intelligible species or
the nature of the horse, or ‘the form by which the intellect understands.’
For Aquinas and Aristotle something is apprehended or it is not. To
complete its cognition of the horse the intellect must turn back to the lower
sensory powers. Why? There is much difficult and obtuse terrain in answers
to those questions. We jump in the process to the knowledge of the nature
that all horses share as well as to this horse we first spotted. Aquinas insists
we must turn to the phantasm in the process in order to know the
relationship between the universal and the horse we perceive.
Aquinas maintained that the attainment of knowledge is gradual and we can
be wrong, of course. There is much to know about the galloping horse: its
breed, its size, its habitat, it health, its gender, age, etc. With our intellects
we can reason as the key to knowledge, but perfect knowledge is beyond
human attainment. To know one thing perfectly is to know the truth about it
perfectly. For Aquinas, to know the horse perfectly would require we know
its matter, form, maker, and its purpose.
Aquinas’ epistemology was derived from his weightier theological
concerns. In Aquinas’ view human striving to know was possible because
things, humans themselves, and human knowledge of things were
expressive of the absolute being---God. From God who contained the
eternal template of all things, humans derive truth. Humans became more
like God by growing in knowledge, and to be more like God, according to
Aquinas, was the desired end of all humankind.
Law and Government
Aquinas’ lasting contributions to politics and legal theory were a synthesis
of Christian doctrine, Scripture, contemporary practice, and Aristotelian
methodology. To Aquinas, as for Aristotle, humans’ moral fulfillment is
achieved by correct use of the rational faculties, but, Aquinas, of course,
includes his understanding that God, the creator of all, is the “first
principle” in whose image humans are made, and by whom human destiny
is set. As first and foremost a theologian, he had a realistic view of humans’
proclivity to sin. Yet, he held out to the aspirations of government to protect
the common good.
In the thirteenth century, governments were seen as ordered according to
divine intention. Then, the Napoleonic philosophy of the “Great Chain of
Being” justified a government hierarchy that Aquinas accepted. Yet, the
Aristotle in him recognized that the single ruler monarch could rule over
free subjects who had basic sense to conduct themselves reasonably. The
people, he maintained, could get rid of a monarch when corrupted judgment
turned tyrannical and violated the common good. As often as Aquinas
tipped in new directions from the established feudal order of his day, it
would be a long time coming before religious freedoms and democracy as
we know it would enter public discourse. Yet, many neo-Thomists
interested in promoting Christian democratic theory centuries later found
plenty of fodder in Aquinas’ sources and writings.
After his Five Ways as proof for the existence of God, Aquinas’ “Treatise
on Law” may be the best known section in his Summa theologica. Aquinas’
definition of law was, “an ordination of reason for the common good
promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community.”
Aquinas placed “law” into four hierarchical categories: First came eternal
law, rational governance under God’s rule over the universe. Natural law
ranked under eternal law. Aquinas maintained that rational humans had a
natural inclination to behave morally and properly and were inclined to
avoid evil. Prudence he names often as the virtue applied to attain
reasonable outcomes in matters domestic and political. Human law related
to human application of Natural law in society. Divine
law was God’s law
set forth in Scripture. He left few issues of family life, public policy, and
governance unaddressed: from opinions about sexual conduct, abortion, the
role of women, pricing in the marketplace, usury, property rights (including
slavery) to the role of governments. The Summa Theologica is his
exhaustive treatise on all matters civil, domestic, and theological.
Just war theory was first introduced by Cicero who defended the rightness
of Roman wars. Aquinas established criteria for just war. First, wars should
never be waged for self-gain or for gaining power. Second, higher
authorities, like the state, must fight wars. Third, peace, even in the midst of
violence, must be held as central vision.
His influences on political ideas, morals and ethics have had far reaching
impact. In the sixteenth century Jesuit theorists adopted his ideas on
international law and influenced many others. Aquinas’ natural law theory
was popular in late sixteenth-century England, finding its way into the
writings of John Locke. He has influenced the political and social
ideologies of countries around the world, on issues of democracy, human
rights, and religious tolerance. Even our Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted him
on the invalidity of unjust law. His thinking has penetrated some modern
Catholics’ thinking on communitarianism versus individualism of a free
market capitalist system.
He has had his critics, of course, among them liberals (including feminists)
who roundly reject his advocacy of slavery, hierarchy, the inferiority of
women, anti-Semitism, and clericalism, indicating that Aquinas seemed to
choose order over freedom. Many of his proponents, moral and social
philosophers hold forth that Aquinas’ basic optimism about human capacity
to set goals, seek purpose, and choose values that can critique and
implement legal, political, and social life to achieve the common good.
The Summa theologica
Aquinas lived only 48 years, but his productivity was legion. He produced
over sixty works; the authenticity of some of those works was questioned
since he had scribes and secretaries and disciples whose work was
sometimes attributed to Aquinas. The ground laying for his Summa
theologica was his debates with colleagues over the compatibility of
philosophy and theology. Could the unseen world be reconciled with the
observable physical world?
As a master at the University of Paris he held disputations every two weeks
and once a year during Advent and Lent, the seasons of penance, when the
audience could choose the topic. His disputations “On Truth,” “On the
power of God in the creation and conservation of things,” “On Evil,” “On
Spiritual Creatures,” “On the Soul” were among his many works.
When not writing as theology professor, he wrote for outside purposes.
Dominican missionaries serving in the Moslem world requested an
apologetic for Catholic faith. Aquinas’ response was one of his two great
Summae, Summa contra gentiles, in which he illuminates “the truth of the
Catholic faith.” In this Summa he begins to lay the structure for his
magnum opus, The Summa theologica. In the former he established his
schema for proof of the existence God, creation, and its ordering to God as
its end. He also wrote of matters that elude reason, but could be known by
revelation, certain aspects of God like the Trinity.
It was while he was in Italy from 1259 to 1269 that his culminating work,
the Summa theologica was composed. Along the same pattern of the
disputation, he constructed it as a series of questions and sub-questions with
answers affirmative and negative, followed by two arguments. In large part,
he designed his questions based on those of his favorite sources,
philosophers like Averroes whom Aquinas refuted, Dionysius the
Areopagite, whom Aquinas believed was a Biblical character, a famous
jurist of Ancient Rome, Peter Lombard, author of The Sentences, and of
course Aristotle the philosopher and Augustine the theologian.
Other scholars are mentioned, one a Jewish rabbinical scholar and Islamic
philosophers. Each question consists of four parts, each beginning with a
fixed formula, the first two authoritative in nature, the second two based on
rational argumentation, a device that brought theology into the realm of
systematic theoretical inquiry. On the question of the existence of God,
article one begins with his counter-argument, “It seems it is not so.”
Here he argues against the existence of God, using the well-worn atheist
argument that a loving and powerful God would not permit evil. The second
article offers, “On the contrary” arguing the other side. The third component
begins, “I reply that it must be said that...” which begins the reply he favors.
Here is where he presents his Five Proofs for the existence of God. Here he
counters again the objections raised at the beginning. As illustration, below
is an excerpt from the Summa’s 38 treatises, 612 questions, subdivided into
3,120 articles where about 10,000 objections are proposed and argued. The
work has been in constant use for seven-hundred years. The first edition
was printed in Basle in 1485, and is among the most published of all works;
it exists in many translations, and a complete manuscript can be obtained
online. “Whether God Exists” Question 2, Article 3 from The Summa
theologica.
Whether God exists?
Objection 1: It seems that God does not exist; because if one of two
contraries be infinite, the other would be altogether destroyed. But the word
"God" means that He is infinite goodness. If, therefore, God existed, there
would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world. Therefore God
does not exist.
Objection 2: Further, it is superfluous to suppose that what can be
accounted for by a few principles has been produced by many. But it seems
that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other
principles, supposing God did not exist. For all natural things can be
reduced to one principle which is nature; and all voluntary things can be
reduced to one principle which is human reason, or will. Therefore there is
no need to suppose God’s existence.
On the contrary, It is said in the person of God: "I am Who am." (Ex. 3:14)
I answer that, The existence of God can be proved in five ways. {Here he
enumerates The Five Ways which is omitted here for the sake of brevity}
Reply to Objection 1: As Augustine says (Enchiridion xi): "Since God is the
highest good, He would not allow any evil to exist in His works, unless His
omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil."
This is part of the infinite goodness of God, that He should allow evil to
exist, and out of it produce good.
Reply to Objection 2: Since nature works for a determinate end under the
direction of a higher agent, whatever is done by nature must needs be
traced back to God, as to its first cause. So also whatever is done
voluntarily must also be traced back to some higher cause other than
human reason or will, since these can change or fail; for all things that are
changeable and capable of defect must be traced back to an immovable and
self-necessary first principle, as was shown in the body of the Article.
The Living Flame
Christian philosophy, or Scholasticism, of which Thomas Aquinas was
greatest proponent has fallen in and out of repute over the centuries.
Aquinas’ works might be seen like a flickering flame that was nearly
extinguished and then suddenly and surprisingly brought to a roar; in the
new millennium it burns as a perennial flame.
Aquinas has always been studied among the Dominicans since his
canonization. After the Reformation his flame barely flickered and study
beyond the Dominican order had become the exception instead of the norm
after the French Revolution. Aquinas’ work had little if any representation
in universities. The Dominicans were floundering and in disarray all over
Europe. At a General Chapter meeting in Rome in 1838 the great circular
letter of General Tommaso de Boxadors of pre-revolutionary Thomist
fervor (1757), and the manual his colleague compiled were re-visited and
revived, producing a three year course of study on the Summa, required for
all degree candidates in Rome and, later in Spain.
In the 1860s and 70s in Rome and surrounding areas, the Thomist light
seemed to be re-igniting, and even a Thomist journal was published. In the
1850’s, the Jesuits got on the Thomist band-wagon, challenging the
entrenched non-Thomist groups, the Suarezians and Cartesians, and began
producing individual academic works on Aquinas. Little did the
Dominicans know that beyond their purvey a non-Dominican group had
been for over thirty years studying Aquinas at the university in Piacenza,
now recognized as the cradle of the neo-Thomist movement.
His name was Joachim Pecci, a long-standing proponent of Scholasticism
and, by association, the works of Thomas Aquinas. Bishop of Perugia for
thirty-some years, he became Pope Leo XIII. Suddenly the flame of
Aquinas burst upon the scene like a blaze. In his very first encyclical,
Inscrutabili Dei, written only two months after his election, Leo XIII
stressed the social and ecclesiastical importance of philosophy and the
doctrine of Thomas Aquinas for his time. He ordered the Cardinal of Rome
to establish a philosophical academy at the S. Apollinare seminary in Rome.
He ordered that only the philosophy of Aquinas be taught and routed out the
non-Thomist manuals of instruction.
The encyclical that draws most attention for Pope Leo’s inauguration of
neo-Thomism in the Church was his Aeterni Patris to which he gave the
title, “The restoration in Catholic schools of Christian philosophy acceding
to the mind of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor.” In this piece he
raised the flame of Scholasticism and the work of Aquinas to its brightest
glow. He echoed Scholastic sentiments to their fullest extent, insisting that
the use of reason in service of the faith stood soundly in Christian tradition,
from the Fathers of the Church to the most recent Vatican Council. Simply,
the mysteries of faith could be illuminated by use of the faculties of reason
and philosophical application.
He maintained, against the anti-Scholastics who criticized Aquinas’ work as
too subtle and a lot of useless discussion: “There is no part of philosophy of
which he did not treat solidly and lucidly. What is more, he nicely
distinguished reason and faith, yet brought the two together as friends. He
clearly set out the rights of each, yet to each he gave its full dignity.” Pope
extolled: “the prince and master of all by far is Thomas” who “surpassed
the teaching of all the other doctors, providing a singular source of defense
to the Catholic Church.” The encyclical lists the Ecumenical Councils over
time who had honored Aquinas (the placement of his Summa on the alter
next to the Bible), and the many religious orders where Aquinas was
required study. The doctors of the University in Paris called him the
luminous sun, the light of the whole church. Not even the Dominican popes
had recognized Aquinas to this extent. Leo goes on to analyze and regret
that Aquinas had fallen out of the spotlight, suggesting that the role of
reason had overshadowed faith, producing question and doubt among
Catholics of his time.
Suffice it to say that Pope Leo’s encyclical restored Thomas Aquinas to his
rightful place among the great doctors of the church. Thomas Aquinas was
no longer just a Catholic doctor; his works had become also part of
Protestant intellectual discourse.
As the twentieth century neared its end, Pope John Paul II’s encyclical
Fides et Ratio urged church leaders to “reiterate the value of the Angelic
Doctor’s insights and insist on the study of his thought.”
As the new
millennium proceeds, establishments like the University of St. Thomas,
Houston, exist like gas to the perennial flame of Aquinas’ Christian
philosophy and legacy.
Saint Thomas Aquinas for Catholics Today
After a thorough investigation of the scholarship of Thomas Aquinas, one
might contend that only the intellectually stalwart could fully benefit from
knowing this great man of the church; this is perhaps true. Likely, not many
“average” Christians would choose Aquinas for their bedtime reading, just
as most patients would not care to hear the scientific explanation behind the
human genome.
Yet, the implication of that discovery, just like the implications for Aquinas’
groundbreaking approach to Christianity, has changed everything.
Disregard for the existence of the “real” world, in all of its natural and nittygritty
forms, as taught by Aquinas’ predecessors, particularly Plato, and
thus Augustine, was the pervasive world view when Aquinas entered the
scene.
For Aquinas’ predecessors the world was an illusion, and all one could do
in life was to prepare for higher reality, the next life. Lack of concern, even
contempt, for the physical and natural aspects of human existence had
major implications for how people might understand faith and how the
church might interpret its mission in the world. If, for example, I believe
that the next life is all I need to be concerned with, and all I can strive for,
how easy it would be to ignore the pains of injustice and cruelty in this
world. If he saw the universe as Plato did, would the Church have little
regard-- even contempt for-- this world, ignoring any impulse to confront
injustice, and to address suffering?
How easy to walk away with a fatalism, an indifference, because “this
world is not real anyway.” Additionally, the regard that Aquinas held for the
application of reason would require use of a respectful balance in discerning
truth. For example, if one’s search for truth never encountered reason, one
might be like the preacher who took literally the text from Luke 10:
“Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and
scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm
you.” (Luke 10:19), and died from snake venom.
For anyone who is a serious student of theology and philosophy, and who
endeavors to teach, who could be a finer model and example than the
scholar and master, Aquinas? His gifts for synthesizing, analyzing, and
distilling the works of great thinkers, holding them to the light of faith and
reason, demonstrates pedagogy of highest form. His two summae are
unprecedented and inimitable, thus, supreme models for teachers.
How often have people of fragile faith, or none at all, been overcome with
awe at the sight of a beautiful sunset, a mountain vista, ocean waves
washing over giant rocks, the birth of a child? A world-view, such as
Aquinas’, teaches that an encounter with the natural order is, in effect, our
first encounter with the “first cause,” the Creator.
Because of Aquinas, the new believer can take his/her natural experience as
a tangible indication of the existence of God. Faith, for Aquinas, begins
with what our natural sensory experience can see-hear-feel-touch-smell.
Although God remains the mystery that Moses encountered in the desert (“I
am who I am”), Aquinas departed from the teachings that in as much as
denied “the real.” Until Aquinas, it was aberrant to trust one’s experience,
and to place one’s “knowing” under the guise of both reason and faith.
Today, it is recommended that for best Christian discernment, one filter
his/her choices through the authority of Bible, tradition, faith, and reason.
Fundamentally, for Aquinas, human life is meaningful, and we need not
despair, for God has given us human reason that, by God’s grace, can assist
us to achieve fullest expressions of our God-given gifts.
Prayers Written by Saint Thomas
Devoutly I Adore Thee (Adoro te devote)
O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,
Who truly art within the forms before me;
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in contemplating Thee.
Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived;
The ear alone most safely is believed:
I believe all the Son of God has spoken,
Than Truth’s own word there is no truer token.
God only on the Cross lay hid from view;
But here lies hid at once the Manhood too;
And I, in both professing my belief,
Make the same prayer as the repentant thief.
Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see;
Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be:
Make me believe Thee ever more and more;
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.
O thou Memorial of our Lord’s own dying!
O Bread that living art and vivifying!
Make ever Thou my soul on Thee to live;
Ever a taste of Heavenly sweetness give.
O loving Pelican! O Jesu, Lord!
Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood;
Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt,
Is ransom for a world’s entire guilt.
Jesu! Whom for the present veil’d I see,
What I so thirst for, O vouchsafe to me:
That I may see Thy countenance unfolding,
And may be blest Thy glory in beholding.
Amen.
Thanksgiving After Mass
Lord, Father all-powerful and ever-living God, I thank You, for even
though I am a sinner, your unprofitable servant, not because of my worth
but in the kindness of your mercy, You have fed me with the Precious Body
and Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this Holy
Communion may not bring me condemnation and punishment but
forgiveness and salvation. May it be a helmet of faith and a shield of good
will. May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions.
May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience, and growth
in the power to do good. May it be my strong defense against all my
enemies, visible and invisible, and the perfect calming of all my evil
impulses, bodily and spiritual. May it unite me more closely to you, the One
true God, and lead me safely through death to everlasting happiness with
You. And I pray that You will lead me, a sinner, to the banquet where you,
with Your Son and holy Spirit, are true and perfect light, total fulfillment,
everlasting joy, gladness without end, and perfect happiness to your saints.
Grant this through Christ our Lord, AMEN.
Sion Lift Thy Voice and Sing
Sion, lift thy voice and sing:
Praise thy Savior and thy King;
Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true:
Dare thy most to praise Him well;
For He doth all praise excel;
None can ever reach His due.
Special theme of praise is thine,
That true living Bread divine,
That life-giving flesh adored,
Which the brethren twelve received,
As most faithfully believed,
At the Supper of the Lord.
Let the chant be loud and high;
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt to-day in every breast;
On this festival divine
Which recounts the origin
Of the glorious Eucharist.
At this table of the King,
Our new Paschal offering
Brings to end the olden rite;
Here, for empty shadows fled,
Is reality instead;
Here, instead of darkness, light.
His own act, at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
In His memory divine;
Wherefore now, with adoration,
We the Host of our salvation
Consecrate from bread and wine.
Hear what holy Church maintaineth,
That the bread its substance changeth
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending,
Leaps to things not understood.
Here in outward signs are hidden
Priceless things, to sense forbidden;
Signs, not things, are all we see:-
Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine;
Yet is Christ, in either sign,
All entire confessed to be.
They too who of Him partake
Sever not, nor rend, nor break,
But entire their Lord receive.
Whether one or thousands eat,
All receive the selfsame meat,
Nor the less for others leave.
Both the wicked and the good
Eat of this celestial Food;
But with ends how opposite!
Here ‘tis life; and there ‘tis death;
The same, yet issuing to each
In a difference infinite.
Nor a single doubt retain,
When they break the Host in twain,
But that in each part remains
What was in the whole before;
Since the simple sign alone
Suffers change in state or form,
The Signified remaining One
And the Same forevermore
Lo! upon the Altar lies,
Hidden deep from human eyes,
Angels’ Bread from Paradise
Made the food of mortal man:
Children’s meat to dogs denied;
In old types foresignified;
In the manna from the skies,
In Isaac, and the Paschal Lamb.
Jesu! Shepherd of the sheep!
Thy true flock in safety keep.
Living Bread! Thy life supply;
Strengthen us, or else we die;
Fill us with celestial grace:
Thou, who feedest us below!
Source of all we have or know!
Grant that with Thy Saints above,
Sitting at the Feast of Love,
We may see Thee face to face.
Amen
Tantum Ergo Sacramentum
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! The Sacred Host we hail.
Lo! o’er ancient forms departing,
Newer rites of Grace prevail:
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.
To The Everlasting Father
And The Son Who reigns on high,
With The Spirit blessed proceeding
Forth, from Each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty. Amen.
Adoro Te Devote
O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,
Who truly art within the forms before me;
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in contemplating Thee.
Jesu, eternal Shepherd! hear our cry;
Increase the faith of all whose souls on Thee rely.
Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived;
The ear alone most safely is believed:
I believe all the Son of God has spoken,
Than truth’s own word there is no truer token.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
God only on the cross lay hid from view;
But here lies hid at once the manhood too;
And I, in both professing my belief,
Make the same prayer as the repentant thief.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see;
Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be;
Make me believe Thee evermore and more;
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
O Thou memorial of our Lord’s own dying!
O living bread, to mortals life supplying!
Make Thou my soul henceforth on Thee to live,
Ever a taste of heavenly sweetness give.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
O loving Pelican! O Jesus Lord!
Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood!
Of which a single drop, for sinners split,
Can purge the entire world from all its guilt.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
Jesus, whom, for the present, veil’d I see,
What I so thirst for, oh! vouchsafe to me;
That I may see Thy contenance unfolding,
And may be blest Thy glory in beholding.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
A Prayer Before Mass
Almighty and everlasting God,
behold I come to the Sacrament of Thine only-begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ:
I come as one infirm to the physician of life,
as one unclean to the fountain of mercy,
as one blind to the light of everlasting brightness,
as one poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth.
Therefore I implore the abundance of Thy measureless bounty
that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to heal my infirmity,
wash my uncleanness,
enlighten my blindness,
enrich my poverty and clothe my nakedness,
that I may receive the Bread of Angels,
the King of kings, the Lord of lords,
with such reverence and humility,
with such sorrow and devotion,
with such purity and faith,
with such purpose and intention
as may be profitable to my soul’s salvation.
Grant unto me, I pray,
the grace of receiving not only the Sacrament of our Lord’s Body and
Blood,
but also the grace and power of the Sacrament.
O most gracious God,
grant me so to receive the Body of Thine only-begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
which He took from the Virgin Mary,
as to merit to be incorporated into His mystical Body,
and to be numbered amongst His members.
O most loving Father,
give me grace to behold forever
Thy beloved Son with His face at last unveiled,
whom I now purpose to receive under the sacramental veil here below.
Amen.
A Student’s Prayer
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.
A Prayer After Mass
I give thanks to Thee, O Lord, most holy,
Father almighty, eternal God,
that Thou hast vouchsafed,
for no merit of mine own,
but out of Thy pure mercy,
to appease the hunger of my soul
with the precious body and blood of Thy Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Humbly I implore Thee,
let not this holy communion
be to me an increase of guilt unto my punishment,
but an availing plea unto pardon and salvation.
Let it be to me the armour of faith
and the shield of good will.
May it root out from my heart all vice;
may it utterly subdue my evil passions
and all my unruly desires.
May it perfect me in charity and patience;
in humility and obedience;
and in all other virtues.
May it be my sure defence
against the snares laid for me by my enemies,
visible and invisible.
May it restrain and quiet all my evil impulses,
and make me ever cleave to Thee
Who art the one true God.
May I owe to it a happy ending of my life.
And do Thou, O heavenly Father,
vouchsafe one day to call me, a sinner,
to that ineffable banquet,
where Thou, together with Thy Son and the Holy Ghost,
art to Thy saints true and unfailing light,
fullness of content,
joy for evermore,
gladness without alloy,
consummate and everlasting happiness.
Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayers to Saint Thomas
Prayer to Saint Thomas Aquinas
Father of wisdom, You inspired Saint Thomas Aquinas with an ardent
desire for holiness and study of sacred doctine. Help us, we pray, to
understand what he taught, and to imitate what he lived. Amen.
Litany in Honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary,
Pray for us.
Glorious Mother of the King of kings,
Pray for us.
Saint Thomas of Aquin,
Pray for us.
Worthy child of the Queen of virgins,
Pray for us.
St. Thomas most chaste,
Pray for us.
St. Thomas most patient,
Pray for us.
Prodigy of science,
Pray for us.
Silently eloquent,
Pray for us.
Reproach of the ambitious,
Pray for us.
Lover of that life which is hidden with Christ in God,
Pray for us.
Fragrant flower in the garden of Saint Dominic,
Pray for us.
Glory of the Friars Preachers,
Pray for us.
Illumined from on high,
Pray for us.
Angel of the Schools,
Pray for us.
Oracle of the Church,
Pray for us.
Incomparable scribe of the Man -God,
Pray for us.
Satiated with the odor of His perfumes,
Pray for us.
Perfect in the school of His Cross,
Pray for us.
Intoxicated with the strong wine of His charity,
Pray for us.
Glittering gem in the cabinet of the Lord,
Pray for us.
Model of perfect obedience,
Pray for us.
Endowed with the true spirit of holy poverty,
Pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Oh, how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory,
For the memory thereof is immortal.
Because it is known with God and man,
And it triumpheth crowned forever.
V. What have I in Heaven, or what do I desire on earth!
R. Thou art the God of my heart, and my portion forever.
Let Us Pray
O God, Who hast ordained that blessed Thomas
should enlighten Thy Church,
grant that through his prayers
we may practice what he taught,
through Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
Saint Thomas’ Advent Homilies
Homily I: The Four-Fold Day
FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE EPISTLE.)
"The day is at hand." — Rom. xiii. 12.
THIS word Day is to be taken in a four-fold sense — "The Day is at hand;
"the day of mercy, the day of grace, the day of justice, and the day of glory.
That Sun makes this a four-fold day, whose advent holy Church now
celebrates. The day of mercy is the birth-day of the Lord, in which the Sun
of Righteousness arises upon us; or more truly, He Who made that day so
glorious. The day of grace is the time of grace; the day of justice is the day
of judgment; the day of glory is the day of eternity.
Joel speaks of the first — (iii. 18) — "In that day the mountains shall drop
down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk." Concerning the second,
2 Cor. vi. 2, "Behold, now is the day of salvation." Of the third, Wis. i.,
"The day of wrath, that day the day of tribulation." Concerning the fourth,
Zach. xiv. 7, "But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord not
day, nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be
light." Psalm cxxxiv. 10, "One day in Thy Courts is better than a thousand."
The birth-day of the Lord draws near, that devoutly the day of mercy may
be celebrated and honoured; the day of grace that it may be received; the
day of judgment that it may be feared; the day of glory that it may be
attained.
The Church celebrates the first, Phil. iv. 5, "For the Lord is at hand." Isa.
lvi. 1, "For My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness is near to
be revealed." On account of the second, 2 Cor. vi. 2, "Behold, now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." On account of the third,
James v. 9, "Behold the Judge standeth before the door." On account of the
fourth, Rev. xxii. 12, "Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me to
give to every man according as his work shall be."
We ought to celebrate the birth-day of the Lord, the day of mercy, with
mercy and truth. Christ came to us in these two ways, and so we ought to go
to Him. Ps. xxv. 10, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth."
To celebrate the day of grace with purity and humility, for these two graces
make acceptable grace. Of the first, Prov. xxii. 11, "He that loveth pureness
of heart, for the grace of his lips, the King shall be his friend." Of the
second, James iv. 6, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the
humble."
The Church celebrates the day of judgment with meditation and fear. As S.
Jerome says, "Whether I eat or drink, that voice seems ever to resound in
my ears, ‘Rise up, ye dead, and come to judgment.’" On the contrary, it is
said of the wicked, Prov. xxviii. 5, "Evil men understand not judgment." We
ought to hasten to run to meet the day of glory with righteousness. Heb. iv.
11, "Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest." To four Christian
virtues the Apostle exhorts us in this epistle. To mercy and truth in the
words, "Let us put on the armour of light." For the arms of light are mercy
and truth; for mercy is the shield by which we are defended from the
enemy, and truth is the power by which we overcome all things. Of the first,
Eccl. xxix. 12, 13, "Shut up alms in thy store-houses, and it shall deliver
thee from all affliction. It shall fight for thee against thine enemies better
than a mighty shield and a strong spear." Of courage, Eccles. iii. 4, "Truth is
great, and will prevail; it is great, and stronger than all things; the whole
earth invokes truth, and it blesses heaven itself; it moves all work, and they
tremble because of it, and there is no iniquity in it. A wicked banquet, a
wicked king, wicked women, all wicked sons of men, and all their wicked
works, and truth is not in them, and they shall perish in their iniquity, and
truth shall remain." The epistle further exhorts us to purity and humility,
"Not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying" (v. 13).
Chambering and wantonness are acts of riot which make impurity. Strife
and envying proceed from pride. In prohibiting immodesty it exhorts to
purity; in prohibiting pride it exhorts to humility. In the words, "Let us walk
honestly, as in the day," it awakens us to reflection upon and to fear of the
judgment; that is, that we should so live as it is meet to live in the day of
judgment. A man is in the judgment by thinking upon the judgment; he
lives honestly by fearing the judgment. It exhorts us to justice and dispatch
— "Now it is high time to awaken out of sleep;" and, therefore, by
hastening from the sleep of sin, to arise to the fulfilling of justice; and the
reason is given why a man should do this: "For now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed;" to which salvation may we be led by Jesus Christ
Our Lord.
Homily II: The Coming of the King
FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE GOSPEL.)
"Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek," &c. — S. Matt. xxi. 5.
THIS is a prophecy of the Advent of Our Lord Jesus Christ, about which
there are three signs. First, the dignity of Him Who is coming; secondly, the
utility of His Advent; thirdly, the manner in which He came. Of the first
sign we read in the Gospel, "Thy King cometh;" a merciful King; a just
King; a wise King; a terrible King; an omnipotent King; an eternal King. A
merciful King in sparing; a just in judging; a good in rewarding; a wise in
governing; an omnipotent King in defending the good; a terrible King in
punishing the evil; an eternal King in ruling eternally, and in bestowing
immortality. Of the first, Isa. xvi. 5, "And in mercy shall the throne be
established." Of the second, Isa. xxxiv., "And behold, a King shall reign in
justice;" Isa. xvi. 5, "And He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of
David." Of the third, Ps. Ixxiii. 1, "Truly God, is good to Israel, even to
such as are of a clean heart." Of the fourth, Jer. xxiii. 5, "I will raise unto
David a righteous branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall
execute justice and judgment in the earth." Of the fifth, Esth. xiii. 9, "Lord,
Lord, the King Almighty, for the whole world is in Thy power." Of the
sixth, Wis. xi. 10, "As a severe King, Thou didst condemn and punish." Of
the seventh, Jer. x. 10, " But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God
and an everlasting King ;" S. Luke i. 33, " And of His Kingdom there shall
be no end." Of the seven, collectively, 2 Macc. i. 24, "O Lord, Lord, God,
Creator of all things, Who art fearful, and strong, and righteous, and
merciful, and the only gracious King." Wisdom in the Creator, mercy in the
pitiful, goodness in the good, justice in the just, severity in the terrible,
power in the powerful, eternity in the eternal. This is the King Who cometh
to thee for thy profit. Here the use of the Advent is noted, for it was sevenfold
as applied to the present time: First, for the illumination of the world;
second, for the spoliation of Hades; third, for the reparation of Heaven;
fourth, for the destruction of sin ; fifth, for the vanquishment of the devil;
sixth, for the reconciliation of man with God; seventh, for the beatification
of man. Of the first, S. John viii. 12, "I am the light of the world: he that
followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life;" S.
John i. 9, "That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world." Of the second, Hos. xiii. 14, "O death, I will be thy plague;
grave, I will be thy destruction;" Zech. ix. 11, "As for thee also, by the
blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein
is no water." Of the third, Eph. i. 10, "That in the dispensations of the
fulness of times might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in Him." Of the fourth,
Heb. ii. 14, 15, "That He might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage." Of the fifth, Rom. vi. 6, "Knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin." Of the sixth, Rom. v. 10, "For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Of the
seventh, S. John iii. 16, "For God so’ loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." It was because the holy Fathers saw the good things
which were about to happen at His Advent that they were calling with so
great desire, "O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down."
Concerning these seven things the Prophet spake, Isa. Ixi. 1, "The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach
good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted;
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them
that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord," &c. He hath
"anointed Me to preach good tidings." Behold, the illumination of the
world, for by preaching He hath enlightened the world for us; "to bind up
the broken-hearted," in destroying sin; and sin being destroyed, makes the
broken heart to be healed." To proclaim liberty to the captives: "behold the
spoliation of Hades, for by spoiling Hades He led captivity captive. "The
opening of the prison: "behold the restoration of Heaven, which is the
opening of Heaven. "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord:" behold
the reconciliation of man with God. "The day of vengeance of our God" is
the day of the destruction of the devil: for so He visited with vengeance for
all the injuries which the devil had done to the saints. "To comfort all that
mourn:" behold the beatification of men. In this verse is noted the manner
of His coming. "Meek:" in meekness Our Lord Jesus Christ wished to
come; and He wished to come meekly for four reasons. In the first place,
that He might the more easily correct the wicked: Psalm lxxxix. 10 (Vulgate
reading), "For mildness is come upon us; and we shall be corrected." In the
second place, that He might show to all His lowliness: Eccles. iii. 19, "My
Son, do Thy work in meekness, and Thou shalt be beloved above the glory
of men." In the third place, that He might draw the sheep to Himself, and
that He might multiply to Himself a people: 2 Sam. xxii. 36, "And Thy
gentleness hath made me great." S. Bernard says, "We wholly run after
Thee, O good Jesus, on account of Thy meekness." In the fourth place, that
He might teach meekness: S. Matt. xi. 29, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart." There are four things which ought especially to commend
meekness to us: the first, because it delivers us from evil; the second,
because it perfects grace; the third, because it preserves the soul; and the
fourth, because it deserves the land of the living. Of the first: It delivers
from evil, because judicious meekness belongs to him who feels with no
bitterness of mind. Of the second, Prov. iii. 34, "He giveth grace unto the
lowly." Of the third, Ecclesus. x. 31, "Keep Thy soul in meekness." Of the
fourth, S. Matt. v. 5, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
Let us, therefore, ask that this Lord and King may come to us.
Homily III: The Teaching of Holy Scripture
SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE EPISTLE.)
"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning." — Rom. xv. 4.
THE Apostle has taught us on the preceding Sunday to arise from the dead;
on this day he teaches us towards what we ought to arise, for the Scripture,
which our heavenly Master has given for us, is to be studied and read. And
the Lord as a good Master was the more solicitous to provide us with the
best writings, that He might make us perfectly instructed. "Whatever
things," He said, "were written, were written for our learning." But these
writings are comprised in two books that is to say, in the Book of Creation,
and in the Book of Scripture. The first book has so many creations: it has
just so many most perfect writings, which teach the truth without a lie;
hence, when Aristotle was asked whence he had learnt so many and so great
things, answered, "From the things themselves, which know not how to
deceive." But they teach two things to be learned; and of the things which
may be known four things are to be taught. First, that there is a God;
secondly, that this God is one; thirdly, that this God is triune; and, fourthly,
that He is the highest good. For the world teaches by itself that it is His
work. Wis. xiii. 5, "For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature,
the Creator of them may be seen, to be known thereby." Because they are
one, and are preserved, in the same manner, they teach the unity of God;
for, if there were many Gods, the world would have already been destroyed,
since division is the cause of destruction." S. Matt. xii. 25, "Every kingdom
divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house
divided against itself shall not stand." For all things exist by number,
weight, and measure; or, according to S. Augustine, "On the Trinity by
mode, by species, and by order; so that they teach a three-fold Godhead."
Wis. xi. 21, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, number, and weight."
Because all things are good, they teach that He is the highest goodness
through Whom so many good things proceed. According to S. Augustine it
is a great token of goodness that every creature conceives itself to be good;
therefore, because God is good, so are we. About the actions to be done, in
like manner, we are taught a four-fold lesson. God is to be obeyed, loved,
feared, and praised. Of the first, we ought to obey God, for all things serve
Him. Ps. cxlviii. 6, "He hath made a decree which shall not pass." Nothing
among God’s creatures does the Creator find to be disobedient, save the
sinner and the devil. God teaches us to love Him by His benefits and gifts,
which He shows to us daily. S. Augustine says that heaven and earth, and
all things which are in them, on every side, say to me that I should love
Thee; neither do they cease to say this by all things, that I may be
inexcusable if I love Thee not. By pains and punishments they teach us to
fear God. We see that all things are prepared to punish those that rebel
against their Creator. Wis. xvi. 24, "For the creature serving Thee, the
Creator, is made fierce against the unjust for their punishment: and abateth
its strength for the benefit of them that trust in Thee." They teach us to
praise God; for all things praise Him and invite us to His praising. S.
Augustine says that it is wonderful that man does not always praise God,
since every creature invites to the praising of Him; and this so plainly that
all His creatures become as so many Scriptures of God, teaching us that
there are four things to be known, as well as four commands to be
performed.
Homily IV: The Teaching of Holy Scripture II
SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE EPISTLE.)
"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning."
— Rom. xv. 4.
As we have treated of above, there are two books which are written for our
learning, the book of the Creation, which formed the subject of the former
homily; and the book of Scripture, of which we have now to speak. This
book teaches us two things things good and things evil: the good, that we
should perform them; the evil, that we should avoid them. There are three
attributes which are taught us about the Good, precepts, counsels, and
promises; for the Good is threefold, and it is both honest, and pleasant, and
profitable. The precepts teach us honest good, because they teach the
worship of the One God, and fairness of manners and of virtues which
make the honest man. In counsels there is the useful good. S. Matt. xix. 21,
"If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven." The delightful or joyous good flows
from promises. S. John xvi. 22, "I will see you again, and your heart shall
rejoice." Deut. iv. 1, "Hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and the judgments
which I teach you that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which
the Lord God of your fathers giveth you." Likewise, concerning the evil
things there are three points to be noticed prohibitions, dissuasions, and
comminations, and they agree with the threefold nature of evil. There is the
evil of deadly sin, of venial sin, and of the sin of eternal punishment. The
prohibitions refer to the evil of deadly sin, "Neither shalt thou commit
fornication," &c., and so with regard to the other prohibitions. The
dissuasions refer to venial sins, Eccles. xix. 1, "He that contemneth small
things shall fall by little and little. Thou hast avoided grand things, be
careful lest thou art overwhelmed in the sand." Comminations have respect
to the evil of eternal punishment — Isa. Ixvi. 24, "For their worm shall not
die, neither shall their fire be quenched." Rightly, therefore, does the
Apostle say that whatever things were written in the book of Scripture were
written for our instruction.
Homily V: The Advent of Justice
SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE GOSPEL.)
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars." —
S. Luke xv. 25.
WE spoke in the Gospel of the preceding Sunday of the mercy of Our
Lord’s second coming; we will now treat of the justness of His Advent. It
appertains to justice to punish the evil, and to reward the good; and
therefore both these acts are treated of in this Gospel. The former in the
words of the text, "And there shall be signs;" and the latter in the second
part of this Gospel, "Look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption
draweth nigh." About the punishment of the wicked, the Gospel shows that
the Creator and the creature unite for their punishment. This creature, which
meets together for the punishment of the wicked, is three-fold spiritual,
corporeal, and composite. The spiritual creature is an angel; the composite
creature is a man; the corporeal creature is two-fold, superior and inferior
the former being the heavenly bodies, the latter being the elements.
Therefore the Lord points out in this Gospel that the wicked receive
punishment from Him, by angels, by heavenly bodies, and from themselves.
Firstly, they shall see the Son of Man; secondly, the powers of heaven shall
be shaken; thirdly, there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; fourthly,
the sea and waves roaring; fifthly, men’s hearts failing them for fear. Of the
first, it is known that in a three-fold manner God will afflict the wicked:
firstly, in awarding; secondly, in convicting; thirdly, in condemning. Of the
first, "I have been naked;" of the second, "Since ye have not done it unto
Me," &c.; of the least of these, &c.; of the third, "Depart from Me, ye
wicked." As in a three-fold manner the Son of Man afflicts the wicked, so
do the angels also. In the first place by drawing the wicked to judgment; in
the second place by separating them from the good; in the third place by
consigning them to eternal fire. S. Matt, (xiii.41,42) speaks of this threefold
office of the angels, "The Son of Man shall send forth His angels," &c.
"They shall gather out of His kingdom," and so draw the wicked to
judgment, since with their heavy bodies they cannot move so quickly as the
angels. "All things that offend and them which do iniquity, and so they will
separate the evil from the midst of the just." "And shall cast them into a
furnace of fire." So fulfilling the third office. The celestial body shall in the
same way in a three-fold manner afflict the wicked. In the first place, by
frightening them with signs; in the second place, by afflicting them with
darkness; in the third place, by discovering their wickedness. Of the first,
there shall be signs in the sun, moon, and stars, Joel ii. 30, 31, "And I will
show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of
smoke;" of the second, S. Matt. xxiv. 29, "The sun shall be darkened, and
the moon shall not give her light;" of the third. Job xx. 27, "The heavens
shall reveal his iniquity."
Homily VI: The True Ministry of Christ
THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE EPISTLE.)
"Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ." — I Cor. iv. 1.
IN the preceding Epistle the Apostle has taught us that Christ was a
Minister for us. "But I say that Christ was the Minister of the
Circumcision," so, therefore, in this Epistle he teaches us that we ought to
be the ministers of Christ, and six matters are treated of concerning this
ministry. First, that we ought to make ministers of Christ; second, that we
ought to avoid a thoughtless choice; third, to despise human discernment;
fourth, not to trust to individual conscience; fifth, to submit all choice to
Christ as the Judge; sixth, to seek praises from God alone. Of the first, "Let
a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ ;" of the second, "to
judge nothing before the time;" of the third, that "it is a very small thing to
me that I should be judged of you;" of the fourth, "I know nothing by
myself;" of the fifth, "until the Lord come;" of the sixth, "then shall every
man have praise of God." It ought to be known about the first point that
there are three chief reasons why we ought to be ministers of Christ and to
serve Him — (1) Because whatever we are able to do He gave us the power
to do when He created us; (2) because He served us by redeeming us; (3)
because He will further preserve us to glory. Of the first, S. Bernard, "Who
ought we more rightly to serve than Him Who need not have created us
unless He willed." "It is He that hath made us" (Ps. xcv. 7). Of the second,
S. Luke xxii. 27, "I am among you as He that serveth," for He temporally
served them by washing their feet, in cleansing by His own blood the
wounds of sinners, and in ministering to His own flesh — (1) S. John xiii.
5, "And began to wash the disciples’ feet." (2) Rev. i. 5, "Him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Isa. xliii. 24, "Thou hast
made me to serve with thy sins." (3) S. Matt. xxvi. 26, "Jesus took bread
and brake and gave it to His disciples." S. Bernard, "The good Minister
Who gave His Flesh for food, His Blood for drink, and His Soul for a
ransom, He will likewise serve in glory." S. Mark xii. 57, "That He will gird
Himself and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth to serve
them." Rightly, therefore, we are said to be His ministers. But there are
these things which He chiefly hates in His ministers want of compassion,
disobedience, and uselessness. Of the first, S. Matt, xviii. 32, 33, "O thou
wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as
I had pity on thee?" S. Matt. xxiv. 48, 49, "But and if that evil servant shall
say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his
fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that
servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that
he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion
with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Of the
second, S. Luke xii. 47, "And that servant which knew his lord’s will, and
prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with
many stripes." Of the third, S. Matt. xxv. 30, "And cast ye the unprofitable
servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
There are three things which the Lord requires in His servants — the first,
that they should be cleansed from every defilement of sin; the second, that
they should be ornamented with every virtue; the third, that they should be
decorated with honesty of maners. Of the first, Ps. ci. 6, "He that walketh in
a perfect way he shall serve Me." 1 Tim. iii. 10 (Vulg.), "Let them minister
having no crime." Of the second, 2 Cor. vi. 4, "In all things approving
ourselves as the ministers of God." Of the third, 1 Peter ii. 12, "Having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles." Of these three things, Exo. xl. 12,
13, "And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation and wash them with water;" (v. 15), "and
thou shalt anoint them as thou didst anoint their father," &c. 2 Cor. ii. 15,
"We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ." But the Lord requires that we
should serve Him in three ways first, by imitating Him; second, by
delighting in His service; thirdly, by fearing Him. Of the first, S. John xii.
26, "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me." Of the second, Ps.c. 2,
"Serve the Lord with gladness." Of the third, Ps. ii. 11, "Serve the Lord with
fear." The first makes the service acceptable to the Lord; the second makes
us ready in serving; the third preserves us in His service. But the Lord
promises three rewards to His servants, viz., happiness, dignity, and
eternity. Of the first reward, 1 Tim. iii. 13, "For they that have used the
office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree." Of the
second reward, S. Matt. xxv. 23, "Well done, good and faithful servant, thou
hast been faithful over a few things," &c. Of the third reward, Rev. vii. 15,
"And serve Him day and night in His Temple;" and afterwards He "shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." Eternity is a
fountain of life. As Dionysius says, "Eternity is endless, and at the same
time the whole and perfect possession of life." Of these three attributes, S.
John vii. 26, "Where I am, there also shall My servant be." Where Christ is,
there is joyful exultation and eternal delightfulness, to which for His sake
may the Lord God bring us.
Homily VII: The Advent of Grace
THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE GOSPEL.)
"Now, when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ," &c. — S.
Matt. xi. 2-4.
IN the preceding Gospel the Advent of Justice was treated of: in this Gospel
the Advent of Grace is considered. Mention is here made of S. John Baptist,
whose name is interpreted the grace of God; or, as he in whom the grace of
God was. Four things are here spoken about S. John — (1) his
imprisonment; (2) the question about the Advent of Christ by the disciples
whom He sent; (3) the answer of the Lord; (4) the manifold commendation
of John. He was praised chiefly on four accounts — (1) for the strength of
his constancy; (2) for the rigour of his clothing; (3) for the dignity of his
office; (4) for the holiness of his life. Firstly, when John had heard;
secondly, "Who art thou;" thirdly, "Go and shew John again," &c.; fourthly,
"He began to say unto the multitudes concerning John." And, again (1) of
the commendation, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken with the wind?" (2) "A man clothed in soft raiment." (3) "Yea I say
unto you, and more than a prophet." (4) "This is he of whom it is written,
Behold, I send My messenger before thy face," &c. But afterwards it ought
to be known concerning the bonds that three kinds of people are said to be
in bonds. The godly are placed in the bonds of precepts; the impious, in the
bonds of sinners; the condemned, in the bonds of the tormentors. Of the
first, Ezekiel iv. 8, "Behold, I will lay bands upon thee." Hos. xi. 4, "I drew
them with the cords of a man; with bands of love." Of the second, Prov. v.
22, "He shall be holden with the cords of his sins." Isa. x. 4 (Vulgate), "That
you be not bound down under the bond." Of the third, Wisdom xvii. 2,
"Fettered with the bonds of darkness." S. Matt. xxii. 13, "Bind him hand
and foot, and take him away and cast him into outer darkness." The first
bonds are to be sought for; the second bonds to be dissolved; and the third
to be avoided. For three reasons the bonds of the teachers are to be
embraced (1) because by them safety is obtained against all evil; (2)
because he who is bound by them is protected by the wisdom of God; (3)
because from them he goes forth to government. Of the first reason, Eccles.
vi. 30, "Then shall her fetters be a strong defence." Of the second reason,
Wisdom x. 14, "And left him not in bonds." Of the third reason, Eccles. iv.
14, "Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to a
kingdom." There are not only the bonds of preceptors to be embraced, but
the bonds of sinners to be dissolved. For the sinner is bound with the chains
of pride, of avarice, of luxury, and of an evil tongue. Of the first chain, Job
xxxix. 5, "Who hath sent out the wild ass free? Or who hath loosed the
bands of the wild ass?" By the wild ass pride is understood. Job xi. 12, "For
vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’ colt;" whence
the bands of the wild ass are the bands of pride. Of the second chain, Isa. v.
18, "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity." Riches are
vanity. Of the third chain, Prov. viii. 22, "Immediately he followeth her as
an ox led to be a victim, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to
bonds," (Vul.), for the hands of a woman are the bonds that draw. Ecc. vii.
27, "And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and
nets, and her hands as bands." These are the bonds that are to be dissolved.
These bonds are loosened in four ways — (1) by the grace of justification;
(2) by the grace of contrition; (3) by the modesty of confession; (4) by the
penance of satisfaction.
Of the first way, Ps. cxvi. 16, "Thou hast loosed my bonds," that is to say,
the Lord has done this by infusing grace. Of the second way, Dan. iii. 25,
"Lo, I see four men loose;" where it is said the fire consumed the chains of
the children. By the fire contrition is understood. Psalm xxxix. 3, "While I
was musing the fire burned." Of the third way, Hos. v. 13 (Vulg.), "And
Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his band." Judah is interpreted as
confessing. So that he saw his band when being penitent; he saw himself
bound by the band of sinners; he declares himself in confession, that he
maybe loosed. Of the fourth way, Nah. i. 12, 13, "I have afflicted thee. And
will burst thy bonds in sunder." So are loosed the bands of sinners; but the
bands of the tormentors are to be avoided for three reasons — (1) because
they are dark; (2) because they are cruel; (3) because they are eternal. Of
the first reason, Wisdom xvii., "Fettered with bonds of darkness." Of the
second reason, Eccles. xiii. 15, "He will not spare to do thee hurt, and to
cast thee into prison." Of these bands, Isa. xxviii. 22, "Lest by chance he
should be bound with our fetters." Of the third reason, S. Jude 6, "He hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness." He speaks of demons. From
these chains may God deliver us, to Whom, &c.
Homily VIII: The True Joy
FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE EPISTLE.)
"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation
be known unto all men." — Philip, iv. 4, 5.
THE Apostle exhorted us in the end of the preceding Epistle that we should
reserve all things to Christ, the true Judge; but, lest we should be overcome
by the long delay, he said that He was about to come in a very little while."
The Lord," he said, "is at hand." But the Apostle in the words of the text
teaches three things (1) he exhorts to inward holiness; (2) to honest
conversation; (3) he subjoins the reason. I. Inward holiness consists in two
things firstly, that evil affections should be renovated; and, secondly, that
good affections should be obtained. S. Bernard said that holy affection
makes the saint, whilst evil affection is to rejoice in the world. II. But there
is an evil joy of the world, as in evil things, in vanities, in base pleasures.
The joy in evil things is to rejoice in wickedness; the joy of vanities is to
rejoice in riches, which are vain; and the joy in base pleasures is to rejoice
in wantonness. Of the first, Prov. ii. 14, "Who rejoice to do evil, and delight
in the frowardness of the wicked." Of the second, Ps. xlix. 6, "They that
trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches."
Of the third, Job xxi. 12, "And rejoice at the sound of the organ." S. James
v. 5, "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton." S.
Augustine says of these three kinds of joy "What is the joy of the world?
Wantonness is the impurity of the wickeness of the world; to toy with the
games, to be luxurious, to be allured, to be swallowed up, and to offend by
baseness.
To rejoice in the Lord is that joy which tends to salvation; for the lovingkindness
of the Lord leads to justification, for He is most bountiful by way
of remuneration. For a very small servitude He gives eternal life and the
heavenly kingdom, and such a Lord is without doubt to be rejoiced in; Who
saves His servants by redeeming them; Who dismisses all their debts by
justifying them; and Who will crown them with an eternal kingdom by
preserving them."
Of the first, Isa. xxxiii. 22, "The Lord is our King; He will save us." S.
Matt. i. 21, "He shall save His people from their sins." Of the second, Rom.
v. 1, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Of the
third, Apoc. ii. 10, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown
of life." Of these three, Isa. lxi. 10, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My
soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation. He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a
bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels." To which joy may we be led through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Homily IX: The Cry to God
FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. (FROM THE GOSPEL.)
"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness." — S. John i. 23.
IN the former Gospel it was seen how Christ manifoldly praised John; in
the present Gospel it is noted how John humbled himself. Morally, this
world is understood by the text, Deut, viii. 15, "Who led thee through that
great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions,
and drought." The scorpion represents luxury, and the drought is avarice. In
this desert the creature proclaims Christ, the Just One and the Preacher. The
creature cries three things firstly, that we should know God; secondly, that
we should love Him; thirdly, that we should give Him the praise that is due
to Him. Of the first, S. Augustine said, "All things cry, God made me." Of
the second, he says again, "Heaven and earth, and all things which are in
them on all sides, tell me that I ought to love Thee; neither do they cease to
say this to all things, that they may be inexcusable if they love Thee not."
Of the third, he says, "It is wonderful that man rests from the praise of God
when all creation invites us to praise Him."
In like manner Christ cries threefoldly — firstly, in doing miracles;
secondly, by preaching things useful and profitable; thirdly, in dying for us.
Of the first, S. John xi. 43, "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth."
Of the second, S. John vii. 37, "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." Of the third, S. Matt. xxvi. 5, 6,
"Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." In
the first cry His power appeared; in the second, His wisdom; in the third,
His ineffable goodness and love. These three cries were necessary for our
redemption that He might be able to redeem; that He might know how to
redeem; and that He might be willing to redeem us. Of these three reasons,
1 Cor. i. 30, "Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification;" also verse 24, "Christ, the power of God,
and the wisdom of God." Christ is the anointed One, and therefore He is
good; He is Power, and therefore He is powerful; He is Wisdom, and
therefore He is wise.
In like manner the just cry manifoldly firstly, in praying; secondly, in
confessing; thirdly, in praising. Of the first way, Ps. lxxvi. 1, "I cried unto
God with my voice; even unto God with my voice, and He gave ear unto
me."
Of the second way, Ps. xxxii. 5, "I said, I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."
Of the third way, Ps. lvii. 2, "I will cry unto God most high, unto God that
performeth all things for me," for we ought to give Him thanks for His
mercy. The Preacher likewise ought to cry three things firstly, the
wickedness of men; secondly, the misery of human weakness; thirdly, that
the way of the Lord should be prepared.
Of the first, Isa. lviii. 1, "Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a
trumpet, and shew My people their transgression."
Of the second, Isa. xl. 6, "The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I
cry? All flesh is grass."
Of the third, Isa. xl. 3, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord," &c. Purity, humility, and justice prepare
the way of the Lord.
Of the first and second, Isa. Ixii. 10, "Prepare ye the way;" and he adds the
mode of preparing it "Cast up the high way," by removing the loftiness of
pride, that the way may be made by humility; " Gather out the stones," by
the removing of the other sins, which preparation is the office of purity.
Of the third, S. John i. 23, "Make straight the way of the Lord," and by
purity make the rough ways plain. Humility orders us in relation to God;
Justice regulates us in regard to our neighbours; and Purity with regard to
ourselves. May we so govern ourselves that we may be worthy to obtain
salvation through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Table of Contents
About Wyatt North Publishing
Foreword
Quick Facts: Saint Augustine
Quick Facts: Saint Thomas
The Lives of Saint Augustine and Aquinas
The Life of Saint Augustine
Introduction
A Young Augustine
Augustine the Student, Augustine the Teacher
A Traveling Man
The Conversion
Preaching in Africa
Bishop of Hippo
The Final Years
Seeker, Speaker, Saint
Prayers by Saint Augustine
Act of Hope
Act of Petition
Breathe in Me, Holy Spirit
Lord Jesus, Let Me Know Myself
Prayer for the Indwelling of the Spirit
Prayer for the Sick
Prayer of Joy at the Birth of Jesus
Prayer of Trust in God’s Heavenly Promise
Prayer on Finding God after a Long Search
Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Mercy
Prayer to Seek God Continually
Watch, O Lord
You are Christ
Prayers to Saint Augustine
Prayer I
Litany to Saint Augustine
The Life of Saint Thomas Aquinas
An Introduction to His Life
Medieval Scholasticism
The Meeting of the Philosopher and the Theologian
The Existence of God
Soul
Epistemology
Law and Government
The Summa theologica
The Living Flame
Saint Thomas Aquinas for Catholics Today
Prayers Written by Saint Thomas
Devoutly I Adore Thee (Adoro te devote)
Thanksgiving After Mass
Sion Lift Thy Voice and Sing
Tantum Ergo Sacramentum
Adoro Te Devote
A Prayer Before Mass
A Student’s Prayer
A Prayer After Mass
Prayers to Saint Thomas
Prayer to Saint Thomas Aquinas
Litany in Honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas’ Advent Homilies
Homily I: The Four-Fold Day
Homily II: The Coming of the King
Homily III: The Teaching of Holy Scripture
Homily IV: The Teaching of Holy Scripture II
Homily V: The Advent of Justice
Homily VI: The True Ministry of Christ
Homily VII: The Advent of Grace
Homily VIII: The True Joy
Homily IX: The Cry to God
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