ST.
THOMAS was born of noble parents at Aquino in Italy, A.D. 1226. At the
age of nineteen he received the Dominican habit at Naples, where he was
studying. Seized by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered a two years
captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the caresses of his mother
and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in
his vocation. While St. Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers
endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of
his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his
chamber the wretched creature whom they had there concealed. Then marking a
cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in
ecstasy, an angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual
chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp
that St. Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room.
But he never told this grace to any one save only to Father Raynald, his
confessor, a little while before his death. Hence originated the Confraternity
of the "Angelic Warfare," for the preservation of the virtue of chastity. Having
at length escaped, St. Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the
Great, and after that to Paris, where for many years he taught philosophy and
theology. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a
treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor she
has indicated that his science is more divine than human. The rarest gifts of
intellect were combined in him with the tenderest piety. Prayer, he said, had
taught him more than study. His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament
shines forth in the Office and hymns for Corpus Christi, which he composed. To
the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, "Well hast thou written
concerning Me, Thomas. What shall I give thee as a reward?" he replied, "Naught
save Thyself, O Lord." He died at Fossa-Nuova, A.D. 1274, on his way to the
General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X. had summoned him.
Reflection.
