Aquinas, Thomas

Philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas was born ca. 1224 in Roccasecca, near Aquino, [Page 75]Italy, and died March 7, 1274, at the Cistercian monastery of Fossanova near Terracina, Latium, Papal States, Italy. Born of noble parents, he studied at the University of Naples, joined the Dominicans, and taught at a Dominican school at the University of Paris. His time in Paris coincided with the arrival of Aristotelian science, newly discovered in Arabic translation.

In the 13th century, it was believed that all truth was one, and that there could be no serious conflict between philosophy and theology, or between Aristotle and Christianity. Since for them Christianity could not be wrong, and since Aristotle was an established ancient authority, the natural tendency was to bring Aristotle ...