March
7th, Traditional Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
At Fossa Nuova in the year
1274, having received Holy Viaticum and hearing read the Song of Solomon while
commenting on the same sacred text which speaks of the love of Christ and the
soul, passed into eternal life the Angelic Thomas, Common Doctor of the
Universal Church.
St. Thomas Aquinas, known
primarily for his systematic and dogmatic theology and, especially, for his
supreme and most enlightened work the Summa
Theologica, was in his own life recognized as a Master of Sacred Scripture.
The primary work in which he was employed was not composition of dogmatic
treatises like the Summa Contra Gentiles and the Summa Theologica, but rather lecturing
to university students on the Bible.
The Angelic Doctor was a
Scripture commentator and, if we admit (as do the Popes and saints) that the
Doctor of the Angels is the greatest theologian in the history of the Church,
we must likewise assert that he is the supreme biblical scholar of our
tradition – for Scripture is the soul of all theology.
We do well then, on this day in
which we remember our Saint, to consider how he read the New Testament. Perhaps
his little outline will serve as a roadmap for our own study and prayer.
