ST.

THOMAS
AQUINAS
MANGABA, RAVEN ● EPINO, KYLA MHAE ● GALAPON, JASMINE

ROSE
 Topic Outline
• EARLY LIFE (BIRTH, FAMILY)
• EDUCATION
• INFLUENCES ON ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
• ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: LOVE IS FREEDOM
• ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: SPIRITUAL FREEDOM
• THE NATURE OF MAN
• FOUR KINDS OF LAW
• THOMAS AND ARISTOTLE
• THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY
• DIVINE QUALITIES/NATURE OF GOD
• ST. AQUINAS’ THOUGHTS ON STATE AND THE
CHURCH
• METAPHYSICS
• FIVE WAYS TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
• WRITINGS/MAJOR THEOLOGICAL WORKS
 ST. THOMAS
AQUINAS
Italian: Tommaso d’Aquino, “Thomas of Aquino”

o Dominican friar and priest
o Considered one of the Catholic Church's greatest theologians
and philosophers
o Known as the Angelic Doctor
o An Italian Dominican theologian and was one of the most
influential medieval thinkers of Scholasticism and the father
of the Thomistic school of theology.
 What was St.
Thomas Aquinas’
religion?
St. Thomas Aquinas was a member of the Roman
Catholic Church.
 St. Thomas Aquinas
Early Life
Born in January 28, 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy,
near Aquino, Terra di Lavoro, in the Kingdom of
Sicily. (present-day: Lazio, Italy)
Parents: Landulf of Aquino (father)
Theodora of Aquino (mother)
Thomas had eight siblings (3 brothers and 5
sisters), and was the youngest child.
Though Thomas' family members were
descendants of Emperors Frederick II and Henry
VI, they were considered to be of lower nobility.
 EDUCATION
1230
Following the tradition of the period, Saint
Thomas Aquinas was sent to the Abbey of
Monte Cassino to train among Benedictine
monks when he was just 5 years old. 

1238
Saint Thomas Aquinas remained at the
monastery until he was 13 years old, when the
political climate forced him to return to
Naples.
EDUCATION
Saint Thomas Aquinas spent the next five years completing his
primary education at a Benedictine house in Naples. During those
years, he studied Aristotle's work, which would later become a major
launching point for Saint Thomas Aquinas's own exploration of
philosophy. At the Benedictine house, which was closely affiliated
with the University of Naples, Thomas also developed an interest in
more contemporary monastic orders. He was particularly drawn to
those that emphasized a life of spiritual service, in contrast with the
more traditional views and sheltered lifestyle he'd observed at the
Abbey of Monte Cassino.
 EDUCATION
1239
o After completing his early education, he was enrolled at the stadium generale
(University of Naples) recently established by Frederick in Naples in 1239.
Here, he was introduced to the works of Aristotle, Averroes and Maimonides.
1243
o In 1243, at the age of 19, he secretly joined an order of Dominican Order,
receiving the habit in 1244.
o From 1245 to 1252, Saint  Thomas Aquinas continued to pursue his studies
with the Dominicans in Naples, Paris and Cologne. 
o He was ordained in Cologne, Germany, in 1250, and went on to teach
theology at the University of Paris, and was appointed regent master in
theology at Paris in 1256.
INFLUENCES ON ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO ARISTOTLE SAINT ANSELM OF CANTERBURY ALBERTUS MAGNUS

IBN SINA CICERO PETER LOMBARD ABU HAMID AL-GHAZALI MAIMONIDES

 ST. AUGUSTINE ARISTOTLE
He based much of his works on the
He either argued or Aristotelian philosophy.
Aquinas adopted Aristotle's theories of
affirmed the place, motion, and time making them his
philosophies of Plato primary source of inspiration to his own
philosophical thoughts. Aristotle wasn't
and St. Augustine. the only inspiration in St. Thomas
Aquinas but he was the most important
one related to God and living.
ST. ANSELM
While proposing five proofs of God's
existence in his Summa Theologica,
St. Thomas Aquinas objected to
Anselm's argument. He suggested
that people cannot know the nature
of God and, therefore, cannot
conceive of God in the way Anselm
proposed.
 ST. ALBERTUS IBN SINA (AVICENNA) CICERO
MAGNUS
He was deeply influenced by St.
Major summa – the Cure (al- “Natural Law
Albertus Magnus about his thoughts. Shifa’) had a decisive impact
Best known as a teacher/adviser of St.
Thomas Aquinas in his doctorate in
upon European
scholasticism and especially
Theory”
theology and as a proponent of
Aristotelianism at the University of upon Thomas Aquinas
Paris.
 Peter Lombard ABU HAMID AL- MAIMONIDES
As a new teacher, St. Thomas was expected
to prepare lectures based on GHAZALI St. Thomas Aquinas
the Sentences of Peter Lombard, thus He is widely regarded as a renewer
demonstrating his knowledge of and insight of Islam, raised up by God to revive was greatly
into both theology and philosophy. In the
Sentences, St. Thomas was presented with a the faith. He influenced Thomas
Aquinas who cited his Maqasid-al-
influenced by his
general theology text which draws upon the
writings of the Church Fathers. This was a
significant opportunity for St. Thomas to
Falasifa (The Aims of the thoughts.
Philosophers)
delve into the beauty of theology.
 Of all creatures of God, human beings
have the unique power to change
Thomas themselves and the things around them for
the better.
Thomas Aquinas considered human as
Aquinas’ moral agent.
We are both spiritual and body element,
the spiritual and the material.

Love is A human being has a supernatural,

transcendental destiny.
To achieve the highest level of fulfillment
Freedom and happiness, humans must aspire to go
beyond their basic need to live, eat, and
sleep.
 They must aspire to become beings that
Thomas are not only guided by their animal
instincts but also by their intellectual and
spiritual aspirations. This is in line with
Aquinas’ the idea of Aquinas that in the plan of
God, a human being has to develop and
perfect himself by doing his daily tasks.
Love is Hence, if a human being perseveringly
lives a righteous life and virtuous life, he
transcends his mortal state of life, and
Freedom soars to an immortal state of life.
Thomas
Aquinas’
Spiritual
Freedom
THE NATURE OF MAN

Man is his unity

of BODY and
SOUL.
FOURFOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW:
Eternal Law Natural Law • Protect and preserve human life.
• Reproduce and educate one’s
The decree of God that Applies only to human offspring.
governs all creations. beings • Know and worship God.
• Live in a society.
God's perfect plan, not Human “participation” in
fully knowable to the eternal law and is
humans.  discovered by reason.
(derived from nature)
Human Law Divine Law
Applied by Rules given by God which
governments to we find in scripture.
societies Example: The Ten
Human laws are subject Commandments (old
to change testament) and The teachings
of Jesus (new testament)
 THOMAS
Virtuous life
AND ARISTOTLE God

T H E
A T IS
W H E O F
PO S ?
R
PU N BEIN G
M A PPINESS”
HU “ HA
THEOLOGY AND
PHILOSOPHY
THEOLOGY (FAITH)
is the belief in the truth of something that does
not require any evidence.
begins with a faith in God and interprets all
things as creatures of God.
PHILOSOPHY (REASON)
is discovered by human reason.
begins with immediate sense experience and
reason upwards to more general conceptions.
 Three (3) Fundamental Mistakes About the Relation
Between Faith and Reason:

The view that faith Faith is the only

This view agrees
in itself is irrational true for me. It’s
that faith is opposed
or contrary to purely personal and
to reason.
reason. interior

FAITH IS PURELY
SKEPTICISM FIDEISM
SIBJECTIVE
 Is Theology (faith) contrary to Philosophy (reason)?
St. Thomas Aquinas argues that faith and reason are never truly in conflict. This is
because there is a fundamental unity of truth which is based on the order of reality.
There cannot be something that is true according to faith and at the same time false
according to reason or science. Likewise, truth is not purely subjective, nor it is merely
private or personal because ultimately, the truth is based on something outside of the
mind that is in reality. Now because God is the source of reality of everything that exists,
he is the ultimate source of the light of reason and also of divine revelation and the light
of faith. So, since both reason and faith come from God, and since truth is one, we can
be confident that faith and reason will never truly contradict each other because truth
cannot contradict truth. So, it follows then that if we find something that looks like a
contradiction between faith and reason, either our reasoning is faulty or it does not prove
its point or we are in some way misunderstanding the truths of faith.
 Is Theology (faith) contrary to Philosophy (reason)?
Aquinas makes a second important point. He says. “The Christian faith is eminently
reasonable.” Every day in fact, you and I believe things that other people tell us and we
learn truths from them, like trusting what they say. In the case of faith, we trust in God
who is truth himself and God gives us what are traditionally called signs of credibility
that show the rational warrant for accepting the claims of the Christians faith. For
example, the miracles of Christ, which many people witnessed, or the enduring reality of
the church and the consistency of her teaching, which has perdured through two
millennia of history. All the same, faith’s mysteries in themselves remain hidden from
view. Our mind is not able to fully comprehend them even though it is reasonable to
believe them and they are believable and the signs of credibility confirm their truth.
Even with this, the truths of faith, like for example the divinity of Christ or the reality of
the Holy Trinity, these things cannot be proven by natural reason. But by the
supernatural light of faith, the believer embraces them without hesitation, without
reservation, and affirms that they are true because God bears witness to us about them.
 Is Theology (faith) contrary to Philosophy (reason)?

In short…
Reason and Faith are compatible with one another as is Science and Religion
because there is but one truth.

 He brought together Philosophy and Theology

 He combine the insights of these two disciplines
 Two of them do not contradict each other
 But he did not confuse these two disciplines
 So, they played complementary role in humanity’s quest for truth.
 Five Positive Statements about
the Divine Qualities or the
Nature of God:
1. God is simple, without composition of parts, such as
body and soul, or matter and form.
2. God is perfect, lacking nothing.
3. God is infinite, and not limited in the ways that created
being are physically, intellectually, and emotionally
limited.
4. God is immutable, incapable of change in respect of
essence and character.
5. God is one, such that God’s essence is the same as God’s
existence.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS THOUGHTS ON CHURCH
AND THE STATE
The Church founders St. Augustine and St.
Thomas Aquinas believed that the state was
established to punish sin and that the
limitation that the political society put on its
members was not a burden but an essential
instrument for their moral development.
While claiming the state’s natural character,
he maintained that the state was God’s
creation in the sense that political society is
the product of the social urge that God has
ingrained in man.
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS THOUGHTS ON CHURCH
AND THE STATE
Aquinas granted the state a positive role and the responsibility of educating
citizens in virtue and morality. He desired for the state to maintain order
and peace, without which virtue could not exist. He wish for the rulers to
enact and enforce regulations that would encourage virtue. It is the state’s
responsibility to keep people secure from enemies and to take the
appropriate measures to protect them. The state, according to Aquinas,
should free people from poverty and illiteracy, which are barriers to living a
virtuous life. Aquinas instructs the rulers to repair any errors, provide any
shortages, and endeavor to perfect whatever may be improved.
 According to St. Thomas
Aquinas…
“Greed is a sin against God, just as all mortal
sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal
for the sake of temporal things.”

“For the knowledge of any truth whatsoever,

man needs divine help, that the intellect may be
moved by God to its act.”

“The goal of human existence is union and

eternal fellowship with God.”
 METAPHYSICS
The idea of the Static

o The whole line of thought was closely related to

religious beliefs. The Supreme God is always at the
top of the pyramid.
o This thinking of St. Thomas developed on the basis
that a static world was the idea of perfection.
According to his words, that which was motionless
and was perfect.
o He distinguished between natural movement and
voluntary movement. However, once again, every first
movement is realized by a Supreme Being, that is,
God.
 Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways to Prove
the Existence of God
1. MOTION - observing movement in the world as proof of God, the "Immovable
Mover“
2. EFFICIENT CAUSE - observing cause and effect and identifying God as the cause
of everything (“NOTHING COMES FROM NOTHING”)
3. NECESSARY BEING/CONTINGENCY - concluding that the impermanent nature
of beings proves the existence of a necessary being, God, who originates only from
within himself
4. GRADATION/EXEMPLARITY - noticing varying levels of human perfection and
determining that a supreme, perfect being must therefore exist
5. DESIGN - knowing that natural beings could not have intelligence without it being
granted to them it by God. 
 What did St. Thomas Aquinas write?
Commentaries on De ente et essentia
Aristotle’s works (On the (Being and Essence)
Soul, Physics,
Metaphysics, De anima, Theological treatises:
Ethics, part of the De The Summa Contra
interpretation, and Gentiles & Summa
Posterior Analytics) Theologica
MAJOR THEOLOGICAL WORKS

SUMMA CONTRA SUMMA

GENTILES THEOLOGICA
MAJOR THEOLOGICAL WORKS

Its purpose is to convince the unbeliever of the

inherent reasonableness of the Christian faith.

This explains how magic was portrayed in the

“natural world.” He was trying to show non-
Christians, especially Muslims, how Catholic
beliefs could be rationalized.

SUMMA CONTRA
GENTILES (1258-60)
MAJOR THEOLOGICAL WORKS
The Summa Theologica focuses on religious matters pertinent
to the organization and doctrine of the Catholic faith,
discussions of virtues and the Sacraments, and the nature of
the Christian triune God and His creation.

As its title indicates, is a “theological summary”. It seeks to

describe the relationship between God and man and to explain
how man’s reconciliation with the Divine is made possible at
all through Christ.

Although unfinished, it is "one of the classics of the history of

philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western
literature.”

SUMMA THEOLOGICA
(1267-73)
 LATER LIFE AND DEATH
In June 1272, Saint Thomas Aquinas agreed to go to Naples and start a theological studies program
for the Dominican house neighboring the university. While he was still writing prolifically, his
works began to suffer in quality.
During the Feast of Saint Nicolas in 1273, Saint Thomas Aquinas had a mystical vision that made
writing seem unimportant to him. At mass, he reportedly heard a voice coming from a crucifix that
said, "Thou hast written well of me, Thomas; what reward wilt thou have?" to which Saint Thomas
Aquinas replied, "None other than thyself, Lord."
When Saint Thomas Aquinas confessor, Father Reginald of Piperno, urged him to keep writing, he
replied, "I can do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears
to be of little value." Saint Thomas Aquinas never wrote again.
In January 1274, Saint Thomas Aquinas embarked on a trip to Lyon, France, on foot to serve on the
Second Council, but never made it there. Along the way, he fell ill at the Cistercian monastery of
Fossanova, Italy. The monks wanted Saint Thomas Aquinas to stay at the castle, but, sensing that his
death was near, Thomas preferred to remain at the monastery, saying, "If the Lord wishes to take me
away, it is better that I be found in a religious house than in the dwelling of a layperson."
Often called "The Universal Teacher," Saint Thomas Aquinas died at the monastery of Fossanova,
Italy on March 7, 1274 at the age of forty-nine (49) due to head injury or brain injury. He was
canonized by Pope John XXII in 1323.
 “True philosophy cannot conflict with

Christian faith but it can fall short of it –

e.g., the existence of God as efficient cause

of the universe can be established by reason

alone, the full meaning of “God” can only

come from faith.”

-St. Thomas Aquinas

Thank You
for listening!