|
|
|
Thomas Aquinas
|
|
e was the second cousin of the Emperor. His family had big plans for
him. But he shocked them when he decided as a teenager to become a Dominican
monk. The family won't have it! He should go with the more prestigious
Benedictines. Thomas refused.
So strings were pulled and he was offered the archbishopric at Naples
with the revenues of a rich abbey thrown in. Thomas still refused. The
family was incensed! They kidnapped and imprisoned him in a tower for
17 months. His brothers sent a high class prostitute in to visit him.
She would get his mind off Dominican monkery. Thomas with "pain in his
loins" refused her.
He went on to become the most noted theologian of the Middle Ages. He
held the ground for Christian truth against the major intellectual challenges
of his era. His monumental work, Summa Theologica , still studied today,
was never fully completed. Three months before his death in 1274 he had
a heavenly vision that led him to see all his writings as "so much straw"
and he put his pen away and pondered the glory of God.
|
|
