Thomas Aquinas was born about the year 1224 into the family of the Count of Aquino. He first studied at the monastery of Monte Cassino and later at the University of Naples. Afterward he joined the Dominican Friars and completed his studies at Paris and Cologne, his instructor being St Albert the Great. He was one of the most important Christian philosophers and theologians. Known as the”Angelic Doctor,” he had an astonishing mastery of scholastic theology and a profound holiness of life. His greatest work, the Summa Theologica, is still widely used. He died near Terracina on 7 March 1274, but his memory is honoured on January 28, the day his body was transferred to Toulouse in 1368. Pope Leo XIII declared him patron of Catholic schools. – CTS New Daily Missal 2012, p 2528; Christian Prayer: Liturgy of the Hours, Saint Paul Publications 1990, p 1069.
