The Barry University community is invited to celebrate the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican Friar and the patron saint of Catholic universities.
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Cor Jesu Chapel
Refreshments will be served following the noon mass. For more information, please contact the Department of Campus Ministry at campusministry@mail.barry.edu and/or 305-899-3650 or visit our offices behind Cor Jesu Chapel.
Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224 – 1274)
Saint Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican Friar, philosopher and theologian. Named a Doctor of the Church and given the title "Angelic Doctor," he is the patron of Catholic universities, colleges and schools. Saint Thomas was born in 1224 or 1225 to noble parents, being the youngest son of Landulf (descendent of the counts of Aquino) and Theodora, a noble woman of Naples. At about the age of nineteen, he joined the Dominican Order, the Order Friars Preachers.
He taught at the University in Paris and Naples and authored over 50 major works, from original philosophical works, to theological treatises, to commentaries on works of Aristotle and on Scripture. His monumental Summa Theologiae is a masterpiece of medieval scholasticism. He is also credited with religious poetry in praise of the Eucharist which is used by the Catholic Church for the Feast of The Body and Blood of Christ.
He died on the 7th March, 1274 at the age of about 50. He was canonized by Pope John XXII on 18 July 1323, and Pope Saint Pius V (a Dominican) proclaimed Saint Thomas a Doctor of the Church in 1567. Pope Leo XIII, in the Encyclical Aeterni Patris, recommended the study of Saint Thomas as the model and norm of Christian philosophy.
As a member of the Dominican Family, St. Thomas Aquinas and his legacy are part of the rich heritage of Barry University.