[Rank]
S. Thomae de Aquino Confessoris Ecclesiae Doctoris.;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5a

[Name]
Thomas

[Rule]
vide C5a;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O God, Who dost enlighten thy Church by the wonderful learning of thy blessed~
Confessor Thomas, and quickenest her through his godly labours, grant unto thy~
people, we humbly beseech thee, ever to apprehend by their understanding what he~
teacheth, and in their life faithfully to practise the same.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
That splendid adornment of the Christian world and light of the Church, blessed~
Thomas of Aquino, was the son of Landulph, Earl of Aquino, and Theodora of~
Naples, his wife, being nobly descended on both sides. (He was born in the year~
of salvation 1226,) and even as an infant gave token of the love which he~
afterwards bore to the Mother of God. He found a little bit of paper upon which~
was written the Angelic Salutation, and held it firm in his hand in spite of the~
efforts of his wet-nurse; his mother took it away by force, but he cried and~
stretched out for it, and when she gave it back to him, he swallowed it. When he~
was only four years old, he was given into the keeping of the Benedictine monks~
of Monte Cassino. He was thence sent to Naples to study, and there, while very~
young, entered the Order of Friars Preachers. This displeased his mother and~
brothers, and he left Naples for Paris. When he was on his journey his brothers~
met him, and carried him off by force to the castle of Monte San Giovanni, where~
they imprisoned him in the keep. Here they used every means to break him of his~
intention, and at last brought a woman into his room to try to overcome his~
purity. The lad drove her out with a fire-brand. When he was alone he knelt down~
before the figure of the Cross, and there he fell asleep. As he slept, it seemed~
to him that angels came and girded his loins and from this time he never felt~
the least sexual inclination. His sisters came to the castle to beseech him to~
give up his purpose of leaving the world, but he so worked on them by his godly~
exhortations, that both of them ever after set no value on earthly things, and~
busied themselves rather with heavenly.

[Lectio5]
Being let down from a window, Thomas escaped out of the castle of Monte San~
Giovanni, and returned to Naples. Thence he went first to Rome, and then to~
Paris, in company of Brother John the German, then Master-General of the Friars~
Preachers. At Paris he studied Philosophy and Theology under Albert the Great~
Doctor. At the age of twenty-five years he took the degree of Master, and gave~
public disquisitions on the Philosophers and Theologians with great distinction.~
He never set himself to read or write till he had first prayed, and when he was~
about to take in hand a hard passage of the Holy Scriptures, he fasted also.~
Hence he was wont to say to Brother Reginald his comrade, that whatever he knew,~
he had learnt, not so much from his own labour and study, as from the~
inspiration of God. At Naples he was once kneeling in very earnest prayer before~
an image of Christ Crucified, when he heard a voice which said Thomas, thou~
hast written well of Me what reward wilt thou that I give thee? He answered:~
Lord, thyself. He studied most carefully the works of the Fathers, and there was~
no kind of author in which he was not well read. His own writings are so~
wonderful, both because of their number, their variety, and the clearness of his~
explanations of hard things, that his rich and pure teaching, marvellously~
consonant with revealed truth, is an admirable antidote for the errors of all~
times.

[Lectio6]
The Supreme Pontiff Urban IV. A sent for him to Rome, and at his command he~
composed the Church Office for the feast of Corpus Christi. The Pope could not~
persuade him to accept any dignity. Pope Clement IV. also offered him the~
Archbishoprick of Naples, but he refused it. He did not neglect the preaching of~
the Word of God. Once while he was giving a course of sermons in the Basilica of~
St Peter, during the octave of Easter, a woman who had an issue of blood was~
healed by touching the hem of his garment. He was sent by blessed Gregory X. to~
the Council of Lyons, but fell sick on his way to the Abbey of Fossa Nuovo, and~
there during his illness he made an exposition of the Song of Songs. There he~
died on the th day of March, in the year of salvation 1274, aged fifty years.~
He was distinguished for miracles even after his death, and on proof of these~
Pope John XXII. added his name to those of the Saints in the year 1323. His body~
was afterwards carried to Toulouse by command of blessed Urban V. He has been~
compared to an angel, both on account of his innocency and of his intellectual~
power, and has hence been deservedly termed the Angelic Doctor. The use of which~
title as applied to him was approved by the authority of holy Pius V. 
