WHY STUDY ST. THOMAS AQUINAS?

As innumerable documents of every kind attest,

the Church has adopted his doctrine for her own.

- Pope Pius XI

And this was the great work of Thomas, who…showed that …what seemed to be reason incompatible with faith was not reason, and what seemed to be faith was not faith in so far as it was opposed to true rationality.

- Pope Benedict XVI

Those principles of wisdom, useful for all time,

which the holy Doctors passed on to us,

have been organized

by no one more aptly than by Thomas,

and no one has explained them more clearly.

- Pope St. Pius X

St Thomas was first of all a student of Christ through the study of Scripture, but he understood Scripture through the eyes of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. By adopting and synthesizing the best of their views, he delivered a more complete account of sacred doctrine than any one of them alone. In this way St. Thomas truly hands down the Tradition of the Church, not simply with regard to sacred doctrine, but with respect to the principles of doctrine, as well as the appropriate method for understanding sacred doctrine with the mind of the Church.

In medieval times, education of the mind was at an all-time height. As a result, the great medieval thinkers are surpassed by none in their intellectual rigor and orderly presentation of arguments. St. Thomas' writings represent thinking at its finest.

Reading St. Thomas's Summa Theologicae is an immersion in logic. It is not only the best introduction to scientific demonstration in theology, but it is also the perfect theological material for developing critical thinking skills. (It's right up there with Euclid's Geometry and Plato's Dialogues, for practicing the art of logic as a beginner.)

By the use of his [St. Thomas'] works a man could profit more in one year than if he studies the doctrine of others for his whole life.

- Pope John XXII

painting used with permission of Regina Sanctorum