Thomas Aquinas Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Legacy, veneration, and modern reception == ===Condemnation of 1277=== {{see also|Condemnations of 1210–1277}} In 1277, [[Étienne Tempier]], the same bishop of Paris who had issued the condemnation of 1270, issued another more extensive condemnation. One aim of this condemnation was to clarify that God's absolute power transcended any principles of logic that [[Aristotle]] or [[Averroes]] might place on it.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts |last=Grant |first=Edward |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56762-9 |pages=81–82}}</ref> More specifically, it contained a list of 219 propositions, including twenty Thomistic propositions, that the bishop had determined to violate the omnipotence of God. The inclusion of the Thomistic propositions badly damaged Thomas's reputation for many years.{{sfn|Küng|1994|p=112<!--assumed from original ref name-->}} ===Canonization=== {{main|Canonization of Thomas Aquinas}} [[File:Andrea di Bonaiuto. Santa Maria Novella 1366-7 fresco 0001.jpg|thumb|right|''Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas'', {{lang|la|Doctor Angelicus}}, with saints and angels, [[Andrea di Bonaiuto]], 1366. [[Basilica of Santa Maria Novella]], fresco.]] [[File:Nef-jacobins-toulouse.jpg|thumb|left|The remains of Thomas Aquinas are buried in the [[Church of the Jacobins]] in [[Toulouse]].]] By the 1300s, however, Thomas's theology had begun its rise to prestige. In the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' (completed c. 1321), [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] sees the glorified soul of Thomas in the Heaven of the Sun with the other great exemplars of religious wisdom.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Dante |title=Divine Comedy |title-link=Divine Comedy |chapter=''Parad''. x. 99 |author-link=Dante Alighieri |access-date=17 January 2010 |chapter-url=http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.php3?display?Enface?Paradiso?10???148?1???0??1?1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726001218/http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.php3?display%3FEnface%3FParadiso%3F10%3F%3F%3F148%3F1%3F%3F%3F0%3F%3F1%3F1 |archive-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=dead |via=Divinecomedy.org}}</ref> [[Dante]] asserts that Thomas died by poisoning, on the order of [[Charles of Anjou]];<ref>{{Cite book |author=Dante Alighieri |title=Divine Comedy |chapter=''Purg''. xx. 69 |access-date=17 January 2010 |chapter-url=http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.php3?display?Enface?Purgatorio?20???151?1???0??1?1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726001228/http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.php3?display%3FEnface%3FPurgatorio%3F20%3F%3F%3F151%3F1%3F%3F%3F0%3F%3F1%3F1 |archive-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=dead |via=Divinecomedy.org}}</ref> Villani cites this belief,<ref>Villani (ix. 218)</ref> and the ''[[Anonimo Fiorentino]]'' describes the crime and its motive. But the historian [[Ludovico Antonio Muratori]] reproduces the account made by one of Thomas's friends, and this version of the story gives no hint of foul play.<ref name="britannica-250">{{EB1911|wstitle=Thomas Aquinas|volume=2|last1=Lindsay|first1=Thomas Martin|author1-link=Thomas Martin Lindsay|last2=Mitchell|first2=John Malcolm|author2-link=|pages=250–252|short=1}}</ref> When the [[devil's advocate]] at his [[canonization]] process objected that there were no [[miracle]]s, one of the cardinals answered, "{{lang|la|Tot miraculis, quot articulis}}"—"there are as many miracles (in his life) as articles (in his [[Summa Theologica|''Summa'']])".<ref name="Mullady" /> Fifty years after Thomas's death, on 18 July 1323, [[Pope John XXII]], seated in [[Avignon]], pronounced Thomas a [[saint]].{{sfn|Hampden|1848|p=54}} A monastery at Naples, near [[Naples Cathedral]], shows a cell in which he supposedly lived.<ref name="britannica-250" /> His remains were translated from Fossanova to the [[Church of the Jacobins]] in [[Toulouse]] on 28 January 1369. Between 1789 and 1974, they were held in the [[Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse|Basilica of Saint-Sernin]]. In 1974, they were returned to the Church of the Jacobins, where they have remained ever since. When he was canonized, his feast day was inserted in the [[General Roman Calendar]] for celebration on 7 March, the day of his death. Since this date commonly falls within [[Lent]], the [[Mysterii Paschalis|1969 revision of the calendar]] moved his [[memorial (liturgy)|memorial]] to 28 January, the date of the translation of his relics to [[Church of the Jacobins]], [[Toulouse]].<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969, p. 86</ref><ref>''Liturgy of the Hours'' Volume III, Proper of Saints, 28 January.</ref> Thomas Aquinas is honored with a [[feast day]] in some churches of the [[Anglican Communion]] with a [[Lesser Festival (Anglicanism)|Lesser Festival]] on 28 January.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Calendar |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar |access-date=27 March 2021 |website=The Church of England |language=en}}</ref> The Catholic Church honours Thomas Aquinas as a [[saint]] and regards him as the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood. In modern times, under papal directives, the study of his works was long used as a core of the required program of study for those seeking ordination as priests or deacons, as well as for those in religious formation and for other students of the sacred disciplines (philosophy, Catholic theology, church history, liturgy, and [[canon law (Catholic Church)|canon law]]).<ref>Code of [[Canon Law]], Can. 252, §3 {{cite web |url= https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PW.HTM |title=Code of Canon Law |website=vatican.va |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110508022209/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PW.HTM |archive-date=8 May 2011 |access-date=22 March 2011}}</ref> === Doctor of the Church === [[Pope Pius V]] proclaimed St. Thomas Aquinas a [[Doctor of the Church]] on 15 April 1567, <ref>{{cite book |last=Torrell |first=Jean-Pierre |translator-last1=Minerd |translator-first1=Matthew K. |translator-last2=Royal |translator-first2=Robert |translator-link2=Robert Royal (author) |date=2023 |title=Saint Thomas Aquinas, Vol. 1: The Person and His Work |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gvi0EAAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=[[The Catholic University of America Press]] |page=376 |isbn=978-0-8132-3560-8}}</ref> and ranked his feast with those of the four great Latin fathers: [[Ambrose]], [[Augustine of Hippo]], [[Jerome]] and [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory]].<ref name="britannica-250" /> At the [[Council of Trent]], Thomas had the honour of having his ''Summa Theologiae'' placed on the altar alongside the Bible and the [[Decretals]].{{sfn|Küng|1994|p=112<!--assumed from original ref name-->}}<ref name="Mullady">{{cite web |url= http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/guests/brianmullady/thomasaquinas.asp |title=The Angelic Doctor – Thomas Aquinas |last= Mullady |first=Brian |year=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081007031948/http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/guests/brianmullady/thomasaquinas.asp |archive-date=7 October 2008 |access-date=11 June 2011}}</ref> In his [[encyclical]] of 4 August 1879, ''[[Aeterni Patris]]'', [[Pope Leo XIII]] stated that Thomas Aquinas's theology was a definitive exposition of Catholic doctrine. Thus, he directed the clergy to take the teachings of Thomas as the basis of their theological positions. Leo XIII also decreed that all Catholic seminaries and universities must teach Thomas's doctrines, and where Thomas did not speak on a topic, the teachers were "urged to teach conclusions that were reconcilable with his thinking." In 1880, Thomas Aquinas was declared the patron saint of all Catholic educational establishments.<ref name="britannica-250" /> On 29 June 1923, on the VI centenary of his canonisation, [[Pope Pius XI]] dedicated the encyclical ''[[Studiorum Ducem]]'' to him. The [[Second Vatican Council]], with the decree ''[[Optatam Totius]]'' (on the formation of priests, at No. 15), proposed an authentic interpretation of the popes' teaching on Thomism, requiring that the theological formation of priests be done with Thomas Aquinas as teacher.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651028_optatam-totius_en.html|quote=Next, in order that they may illumine the mysteries of salvation as completely as possible, the students should learn to penetrate them more deeply with the help of speculation, under the guidance of St. Thomas, and to perceive their interconnections.|title=Optatam Totius}}</ref> The encyclical ''[[Fides et ratio]]'' of [[Pope John Paul II]] described Thomas as "a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html|title=Fides et ratio (14 September 1998)}} (at No. 43)</ref> [[Pope Benedict XV]] declared: "This (Dominican) Order{{nbsp}}... acquired new luster when the Church declared the teaching of Thomas to be her own and that Doctor, honoured with the special praises of the Pontiffs, the master and patron of Catholic schools."<ref>[[Pope Benedict XV|Benedict XV]] Encyclical [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xv/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_29061921_fausto-appetente-die_en.html ''Fausto appetente die''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221101408/http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xv/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_29061921_fausto-appetente-die_en.html |date=21 February 2014 }} 29 June 1921, AAS 13 (1921), 332; [[Pius XI]] Encyclical ''Studiorum Ducem'' §11, 29 June 1923, AAS 15 (1923), cf. AAS 17 (1925) 574; [[Paul VI]], 7 March 1964 AAS 56 (1964), 302 (Bouscaren, vol. VI, pp. 786–788).</ref> === Modern influence === [[File:Saint Joseph's Catholic Church (Central City, Kentucky) - stained glass, St. Thomas Aquinas, detail.jpg|thumb|A stained glass window of Thomas Aquinas in St. Joseph's Catholic Church ([[Central City, Kentucky]])]] Some modern ethicists within the Catholic Church (notably [[Alasdair MacIntyre]]) and outside it (notably [[Philippa Foot]]) have recently commented on the possible use of Thomas's [[virtue ethics]] as a way of avoiding [[utilitarianism]] or Kantian "sense of duty" (called [[deontology]]).<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Snow |editor1-first=Nancy E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Virtue |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199385195 |page=322 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8Q9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA322}}</ref> Through the work of twentieth-century philosophers such as [[G. E. M. Anscombe|Elizabeth Anscombe]] (especially in her book ''Intention''), Thomas's [[principle of double effect]] specifically and his theory of intentional activity generally have been influential.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}} The cognitive neuroscientist [[Walter J. Freeman (neuroscientist)|Walter Freeman]] has proposed that Thomism is the philosophical system explaining cognition that is most compatible with [[neurodynamics]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freeman |first=Walter |date=2008-01-01 |title=Nonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention According to Aquinas |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/mm/2008/00000006/00000002/art00005 |journal=Mind and Matter |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=207–234}}</ref> [[Henry Adams]]'s ''[[Mont Saint Michel and Chartres]]'' ends with a culminating chapter on Thomas, in which Adams calls Thomas an "artist" and constructs an extensive analogy between the design of Thomas's "Church Intellectual" and that of the gothic cathedrals of that period. [[Erwin Panofsky]] later would echo these views in ''Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism'' (1951).{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} Thomas's aesthetic theories, especially the concept of ''claritas'', deeply influenced the literary practice of modernist writer [[James Joyce]], who used to extol Thomas as being second only to Aristotle among Western philosophers. Joyce refers to Thomas's doctrines in ''Elementa philosophiae ad mentem D. Thomae Aquinatis doctoris angelici'' (1898) of Girolamo Maria Mancini, professor of theology at the [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas|Collegium Divi Thomae de Urbe]].{{sfn|Anon.|1899|p=570}} For example, Mancini's ''Elementa'' is referred to in Joyce's ''[[Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Joyce |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/portraitofartist00jame |title=A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man |publisher=Wordsworth Editions |year=1992 |isbn=978-1853260063 |page=[https://archive.org/details/portraitofartist00jame/page/221 221] |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The influence of Thomas's aesthetics also can be found in the works of the Italian [[semiotics|semiotician]] [[Umberto Eco]], who wrote an essay on aesthetic ideas in Thomas (published in 1956 and republished in 1988 in a revised edition).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Umberto |first=Eco |title=The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=1988 |isbn=978-0674006768 |translator-last=Bredin |translator-first=Hugh}}</ref> === Modern criticism === Twentieth-century philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] criticized Thomas's philosophy, stating that: <blockquote>He does not, like the Platonic Socrates, set out to follow wherever the argument may lead. He is not engaged in an inquiry, the result of which it is impossible to know in advance. Before he begins to philosophize, he already knows the truth; it is declared in the Catholic faith. If he can find apparently rational arguments for some parts of the faith, so much the better; if he cannot, he need only fall back on revelation. The finding of arguments for a conclusion given in advance is not philosophy, but [[special pleading]]. I cannot, therefore, feel that he deserves to be put on a level with the best philosophers either of Greece or of modern times.<ref>{{harv|Russell|1967|p=463}} ''[[A History of Western Philosophy]]'', Ch. 34, "St. Thomas Aquinas", Allen & Unwin, London; Simon & Schuster, New York 1946, pp. 484–.</ref> </blockquote> This criticism is illustrated with the following example: according to Russell, Thomas advocates the indissolubility of marriage "on the ground that the father is useful in the education of the children, (a) because he is more rational than the mother, (b) because, being stronger, he is better able to inflict physical punishment."<ref name="Russell 1967 462">{{harv|Russell|1967|p=462}}</ref> Even though modern approaches to education do not support these views, "No follower of Saint Thomas would, on that account, cease to believe in lifelong monogamy, because the real grounds of belief are not those which are alleged".<ref name="Russell 1967 462" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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