Publisher's Synopsis
A short and simple biography of his life. Young Thomas did not aspire to be rich because he already was. He came from a noble lineage on both his mother's and father's sides. He gave up those luxuries and vanities to become a mendicant friar. Thomas never aspired to become a sage. He achieved it thanks to his natural talent and a disciplined love of study and Truth. His only aspiration was always and at all times to be a Saint. And he succeeded. That is why I always found ridiculous those politically correct positions, observed in very boring academic works, of treating him only as Thomas Aquinas and not as St. Thomas Aquinas. As if talking about philosophy and calling him a Saint meant giving in to "superstition". Thomas was above all a Saint. It was the only thing he was interested in being in life. Whoever does not understand this will never understand the life of Friar Thomas or his philosophy. Another cliché that is often used is to qualify the Saint only as a theologian, because "philosophy was made by the Stagirite". Thomas only repeated the doctrine of Aristotle. Leaving aside the falsity of this proposition, it is worth asking: why should one have to be an atheist to philosophize? Why is a conclusion true if it is reached by an atheist and suspiciously false if reaching by a believer? St. Thomas philosophized because it is the only way to do theology. A true theology implies a true philosophy. That is why he was first a philosopher and then a theologian. When he was a prisoner in the tower of Roccasecca castle, his readings were the Bible and Aristotle. The same people who call believers "fanatics" are the same ones who call them theologians when believers philosophize. So I ask: who are the fanatics? It remains for me to delve into some aspects of this life, for example: what it meant for St. Thomas to embrace poverty ideal or being obedient, even if he had to stay away from his books and his classes; what significance the mendicant religious had within his ecclesiology; how he related his mystical experiences to his studies; what happened to his soul that December 6, 1273, when he suddenly and forever abandoned his task as a writer; how his mysterious death can be explained. Let us hope, God willing, to answer these doubts and questions someday.
