SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 28TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND SAINT PETER NOLASCO, CONFESSOR – FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 28TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church and Saint Peter Nolasco, Confessor.

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH: St. Thomas  Aquinas (1225-1274 ) is the Dominican order’s greatest glory and ranks among the greatest writers and theologians of all time. He was the 13th century theologian who showed that the Catholic faith is in harmony with philosophy and all other branches of knowledge. He taught philosophy and theology with such genius that he is considered one of the leading Christian thinkers. A deeply speculative mind, he joined a remarkable life of prayer, a precious memento of which has been left to us in the Office of Corpus Christi. He’s a perfect model of childlike simplicity and goodness, his innocence, on a par with his genius, earned for him the title of “Angelic Doctor.” St. Thomas was born in 1226 into a wealthy and noble family in Aquino, Italy, having relatives among the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. His father Landulph was the Count of Aquino, and his mother Theodora, the Countess of Teano. At age five, Thomas was sent to study at Monte Cassino, the abbey founded by St. Benedict and placed him under the care of the Benedictines of Monte Cassino. His teachers were surprised at the progress the boy made, for he surpassed all his fellow pupils in learning as well as in the practice of virtue. The boy’s intellectual gifts and serious disposition impressed the monks, who urged his father to place him in a university by the time he was 10. At the University of Naples, he learned philosophy and rhetoric while taking care to preserve his morals against corruption by other students. When he became of age to choose his state of life, St. Thomas renounced the things of this world and resolved to enter the Order of St. Dominic in spite of the opposition of his family. Some members of his family resorted to all manner of means over a two-year period to break his constancy. When Thomas set off to enter the newly founded Dominican order to be a poor mendicant friar, his mother held him prisoner in the family castle in order to dissuade him. His brothers went as far as trying to destroy his purity, and thus his vocation, by tempting him with a prostitute. However Thomas resisted and turned to God for help; as a result, angels were sent to guard and preserve his chastity. St. Thomas persevered in his vocation. This long ordeal only strengthened his vocation, and eventually he escaped and joined the Dominicans of Naples in 1243, at the age of seventeen. As a reward for the Saint’s fidelity, his purity of mind and body, and remarkable intelligence, God conferred upon him the gift of perfect chastity, which has merited for him the title of the Angelic Doctor.

After making his profession at Naples, St. Thomas studied at Cologne under the celebrated St. Albert the Great. Here he was nicknamed the “Dumb Ox” because of his silent ways and huge size, but he was really a brilliant student. At the age of twenty-two, he was appointed to teach in the same city. At the same time he also began to publish his first works. After four years he was sent to Paris. The Saint was then a priest. At the age of thirty-one he received his Doctorate. At Paris, he was honored with the friendship of the King, St. Louis, with whom he frequently dined. In 1261, Urban IV called him to Rome, where he was appointed to teach, but he positively declined to accept and ecclesiastical dignity. St. Thomas not only wrote (his writings fill twenty hefty tomes characterized by brilliance of thought and lucidity of language), but he preached often and with the great fruit. Clement IV offered him the Archbishopric of Naples, which he also refused. He was mild in word and kind in deed. He believed everyone was as innocent as he himself was. When someone sinned through weakness, Thomas bemoaned the sin as if it were his own. The goodness of his heart shone in his face, no one could look upon him and remain disconsolate. How he suffered with the poor and the needy was most inspiring. Whatever clothing or other items he could give away, he gladly did. He kept nothing superfluous in his efforts to alleviate the needs of others.

St. Thomas’ best-known achievements are his works of theology. These include the Summa Contra Gentiles, the Compendium Theologiae, and the great Summa Theologica – an explanation and summary of the entire body of Catholic teaching, has been standard for centuries, even to our own day. At the 16th century Council of Trent it was consulted after the Bible, placed on the Altar along with the Bible for easy reference during discussion. In December 1273, however, the scholar proclaimed that he could write no more, following a mystical experience in which he said he had “seen things that make my writings look like straw.” But he complied with a request ordered there by Gregory X, to attend the Council of Lyon to help reunite the Latin and Greek churches. On his way there, however, Thomas became ill and stopped at a Cistercian abbey. The monks treated him with reverence, and it was to them that he dictated a final work of theology: a commentary on the Old Testament’s Song of Songs. The saint did not live to finish this commentary, however. He fell sick and nearing death, he made a final confession and asked for the Eucharist to be brought to him. In its presence, he declared: “I adore you, my God and my Redeemer … for whose honor I have studied, labored, preached, and taught.” He died at the Cistercian monastery of Fossa Nuova on March 7, 1274, at about the age of fifty. After he died his lifelong companion and confessor testified, “I have always known him to be as innocent as a five-year-old child. Never did a carnal temptation soil his soul, never did he consent to a mortal sin.” He cherished a most tender devotion to St. Agnes, constantly carrying relics of this virgin martyr on his person. He was canonized in 1323 by Pope John XXII and made a Doctor of the Church in 1567. In 1965, the Second Vatican Council taught that seminarians should learn “under the guidance of St. Thomas,” in order to “illumine the mysteries of salvation as completely as possible.” St. Thomas Aquinas is the Patron Saint of schools and of sacred theology; philosophers; theologians; apologists; students; universities; academics; against storms; against lightning; apologists; book sellers; Catholic academies; Catholic schools; Catholic universities; chastity; colleges; learning; lightning; pencil makers; ; publishers; scholars; schools; storms; University of Vigo.

PRAYER: Father of wisdom, You inspired St. Thomas Aquinas with an ardent desire of holiness and study of sacred doctrine. Help us, we pray, to understand what he taught and to imitate what he lived. Amen🙏

SAINT PETER NOLASCO, CONFESSOR: St. Peter Nolasco (1182-1256) is a French Saint and founder of the Mercedarian or Nolascan Order (The Order of Our Lady of Mercy or Ransom) founded in Spain in 1218, for the purpose of attending to the sick and ransoming Christian captives from the Moors. It was originally a military order. St. Peter Nolasco was born in c.1182 at Recaud, near Carcassonne, in Southern France, of noble and wealthy parents. His distinguishing virtue was the love of his neighbour, which seemed to be presaged by this incident that when he was a baby in his cradle, a swarm of bees one day lighted upon him, and formed a honey-comb on his right hand and he was not harmed. From his youth, he was noted for his piety, almsgiving and charity. He lost his parents early in life. The Albigensian heresy was, at that time, making way in France. Christians were persecuted throughout a large part of the Iberian peninsula. Peter, out of the hatred he had for that sect, withdrew into Spain, after having sold his estates. This gave him an opportunity of fulfilling a vow at our Lady’s of Mount Serrat, which he had made some time previous. After this, he went to Barcelona; and having there spent all his money in ransommg the Christian captives from the slavery of their enemies, he was often heard saying, that he would willingly sell himself to redeem others, or become a slave in the stead of any captive.

God showed him, by the following event, how meritorious in his sight was this desire. He was one night praying for the Christian captives, and deliberating with himself how he might obtain their deliverance, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to him (1228) and told him, that he would render himself most dear to her Son and herself, if he would institute, in her honour, an Order of Religious men, who should devote themselves to the ransoming Captives from the infidels. In compliance with her wish, St. Peter delayed not to follow the heavenly suggestion, and instituted the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of Captives, in which he was aided by St. Raymond of Penafort and James the First, King of Aragon, both of whom had, on that⁵ same night, received the intimation from the Mother of God. Besides the usual vows, all Religious of this Order are required to take a fourth vow, namely, to offer themselves as slaves to the Moors, if they can in no other way obtain the ransom of the Christians. The new Merecedarian Order, Our Lady of Ransom, was approved by Pope Gregory IX in 1230. In the beginning St. Peter Nolasco and his associates were lawmen, but Pope Clement V decreed that the Master General of the Order should always be a Priest. On one occasion St. Peter Nolasco ransomed 400 at Valencia and Granada; twice he traveled to Africa as “the Ransomer,” not without peril to his own life; and records show that through his personal efforts a total of 890 Christians regained their liberty.

Having taken a vow of virginity, he spent his whole life in the most perfect purity. He excelled in every virtue, especially in patience, humility, and abstinence. He foretold future events by the gift of prophecy, wherewith God had favoured him. Thus, when king James was laying siege to Valentia, then in the possession of the Moors, he received assurance from the Saint that he would be blessed with victory. He was frequently consoled with the sight of his Angel Guardian and the Virgin Mother of God. At length, worn out with old age, he received an intimation of his approaching death. When he was seized with his last sickness, he received the holy Sacraments, and exhorted his Religious Brethren to love the Captives. After which, he began most devoutly to recite the Psalm, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; and at these words from Psalm 110: The Lord has sent Redemption to His people, he breathed forth his soul into the hands of his Creator, at Christmas midnight, on December 25, 1256 at Barcelona, Spain. He was canonized in 1628. St. Peter Nolasco is the Patron Saint of fishermen.

PRAYER FOR THE INTERCESSION OF ST. PETER NOLASCO: O God, you clothed our Father, Saint Peter Nolasco, with the love of Christ; and through the Blessed Virgin Mary you made him a messenger of love and liberty for Christians held in captivity. Help us to imitate him by working for the redemption of all the oppressed and for the building up of your Church. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen🙏