A quinas

(a-kwī´nas; i.e. of Aquino), St. Thomas, a celebrated scholastic divine, born in 1225 or 1227, most probably at the castle of Rocco Secca, near Aquino. His father was Count of Aquino, in the kingdom of Naples. He was educated at the Benedictine monastery of Monte Casino, and at the University of Naples, where he studied for six years. About the age of seventeen he entered a convent of Do mini cans, much against the wishes of his family. He attended the lectures of Albert us Magnus at Cologne, in whose company he visited Paris in 1245 or 1246. Here he became involved in the dispute between the university and the Begging Friars as to the liberty of teaching, advocating the rights claimed by the latter with great energy. In 1257 he received the degree of doctor from the Sorbonne, and began to lecture on theology, rapidly acquiring the highest reputation. In 1263 he is found at the Chapter of the Do mini cans in London. In 1268 he was in Italy, lecturing in Rome, Bologna, and elsewhere. In 1271 he was again in Paris lecturing to the students; in 1272 he was profe or at Naples. In 1263 he had been offered the archbishopric of Naples by Clement IV, but refused the offer. He died, in 1274, on his way to Lyons to attend a general council for the purpose of uniting the Greek and Latin Churches. He was called, after the fashion of the times, the angelic doctor , and was canonized by John XXII. The most important of his numerous works, which are all written in Latin, are the Summa Theologic a , 211 which, although only profe ing to treat of theology, is in reality a complete and systematic summary of the knowledge of the time, and the Summa Philosophic a . The work of St. Thomas consisted in an effort to harmonize the new scientific teachings of the age—derived from Arabian and Byzantine sources—with the doctrine of the Church, and to refute heresy. His disciples were known as Thomists . See Thomism .—Cf. P. Conway, St. Thomas A quinas ; and article in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics .