The Last Word of Aquinas
Chapter Ten
The Last Word of Aquinas
“Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.”
—Thomas Aquinas
After his passing, Thomas Aquinas was placed in a state as if he were some kind of a fallen monarch. Indeed, to those that followed him in the Benedictine order, he would have seemed no less important of a figure, as was demonstrated in the attendance rolls on the day of his funeral service. Aquinas had a vast multitude attend his funeral—all wanted to hear the eulogy and last word of this great man of God.
If legend is to be believed, many miracles supposedly occurred during the funeral rites of Thomas Aquinas. Many claimed to have been cured of blindness, deafness, and even demon possession, just for being near the body of this deceased theologian. Aquinas no doubt would have been pleased because his very funeral seemed to be a spontaneous outburst of ecstatic joy, praise, and worship of God.
Nevertheless, just three short years after his passing, some of his old detractors re-emerged from the woodwork and began to criticize Thomas Aquinas anew. In their efforts, they requested and received condemnation for at least parts of the works of Thomas Aquinas through the auspices of Stephen Tempier, the bishop of Paris, and Robert Kilwardby, the archbishop of Canterbury, which went into effect in 1277.
The Dominican order was not about to abandon its beloved brother, however, and in 1279, they issued an official proclamation of their support for Thomas Aquinas. Here, the reputation of Aquinas stood between these two warring theological groups—his legacy hanging in the balance until on July 18, 1323, almost 50 years after his passing, Aquinas was canonized as a saint. Since Aquinas had managed to make it this far, there was no way the church was about to let a saint be disparaged any longer. The previous condemnations that had been leveled against Aquinas’s work were ordered to be removed.
A couple of centuries later, on April 15, 1567, Thomas Aquinas was declared a Doctor of the Church—a rare distinction only given to those that are known to have contributed great theological works and God-inspired liturgy. Such titles had been given only a few times in the past, leaving Aquinas in great company with such epic writers as Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose. He was indeed hoisted up onto the shoulders of giants, but the words that he wrote would carry him still further as his life and legacy continued to unfold several centuries after he had left his earthly, physical coil behind.
Even though he had failed to complete his final journey down the Appian way in 1274, the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas would continue to lead the faithful down the path of divine enlightenment for several more centuries to come.