St. Thomas Aquinas Reflections

The following are excerpts from writings of two of our scholarly sisters.  The first is from Sr. M. Dominic Twohill's doctoral dissertation.  The second, from Sr. M. Finbarr is on the importance of educators to resemble Aquinas in their approach to teaching.

The Background and St. Thomas Aquinas' Reading of the "De Divinis Nominibus" of the Pseudo-Dionysius (Sr. M. Dominic Twohill)

The fact of St. Thomas Aquinas' frequent citation of the Pseudo-Areopagite raises the question of a Dionysian influence on the Thomistic synthesis.  An Adequate discussion of this problem demands an acquaintance with the reasons why the Angelic Doctor quoted this author; the medium through which he read him; and the manner in which he interpreted him.

Five years before St. Thomas began his major work of synthesis, the Summa Theologica, he gave an expositio of the Divine Names, the major treatise of the Dionysian Corpus, and the only one on which he made a complete commentary.  Until the present there appears to be no study in English which would enable one to understand the historical background of this work which is the prime source for determining St. Thomas' interpretation of the Pseudo-Areopagite. 

[...] St. Thomas' commentary on the Divine Names appears to have been a significant step in the movement of the Dionysian current in the history of Western thought.  However, if the prologue and lectio examined in this dissertation are viewed against the historical background of the Dionysian Corpus; in the light of St. Thomas' choice of John Sarrazin's translation for his work, with regard to the influence of the doctrinal climate of the mid-thirteenth century, and with due consideration for the Pseudo-Areopagite's obscure style, it might be asked whether it was the Thomasitic or the Dionysian synthesis that dominated when the Angelic Doctor completed his exposition of the treatise on the Divine Names.  Only a complete and systematic study of the whole commentary will answer this question.

The Ideal Religious Ready for the Apostolate (Sr. M. Finbarr)

From the time when as a child, he wearied the monks of the Abbey of Monte Cassino with his question, "What is God?" up to the day when he waved aside his secretary with the words, "I can do no more," and left the Summa Theologica un unfinished monument to his genius, St. Thomas had given all his years to a life of learning, along with what to him was its necessary complement, the life of teaching.  For he thought it was unfair to the student and would take from him the greatest spur to study, if at the end of study the right to teach was not accorded him.

This life of learning along with his inner life with God makes up his whole biography.  This learning and holiness made one life in him - no discord between study and prayer.  He had a humble mind and eagerness in seeking the truth.

The Ideal Dominican Religious Teachers should in all ways emulate this saintliest of great teachers and most scholarly of saints, and also the great teachers of the Dominican Order their Founder, St. Dominic, St. Albert the Great, and the many other exemplary teachers in Dominican history.  [...] the program for the preparation of our Dominican Teachers is designed to produce other Thomases, Alberts and so forth who possess desirable personal qualities, ideal, attitudes and interests; who have an intelligent insight into the role that education has performed in the past and needs to perform now to develop young people of Christian ideals and personal integrity.