Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine: Lives and Works
Thomas Aquinas: Life and Major Works
Thomas Aquinas was born in Roccasecca, near Naples. He studied at the Monastery of Monte Cassino. In 1244, he became a Dominican. Soon after, he traveled to Paris, where he studied theology under the direction of Albert the Great until 1248, when he went to Cologne, following his master. In 1252, he returned to Paris and obtained a degree from the Faculty of Theology. The following year, in 1257, he received the title of teacher and continued to teach theology as such until 1259, the year he went to Italy, teaching in various cities. In 1269, he returned to Paris until he went to Naples in 1272. In 1274, he was called by Pope Gregory X to attend the Second Council of Lyon, and on the road, he fell ill and died on March 7.
His works are numerous, and among them, we highlight the following:
- De principiis naturae
- De ente et essentia
- De sustantiis separantis
- Quaestiones Disputatae
- De veritate
- De potentia
- Summa Theologica
Saint Augustine: A Life of Faith and Intellect
Saint Augustine is one of the most interesting figures of his time, Christianity, and philosophy. Born in 354 in Tagaste, near Carthage, in the North African strip most Romanized and Christianized. The first person that influenced his life was his mother, Monica, who, with the depth of her Christian faith and consistency of her life, laid the foundation for her child’s future conversion to Christianity.
As a student of literature and rhetoric at Carthage, he fell for a woman with whom his child, Adeodatus, was born. The reading of Cicero’s dialogue, now lost, the Hortensius, awakened in Augustine the love of truth and began his search. Augustine then turned to the Bible but found it a dry and incomprehensible read.
At nineteen, he turned to Manichaeism, which contained many elements of Christianity, but its distinguishing feature was a radical dualism in the concept of right and wrong, meaning not only moral but also divine. An encounter with the Manichaean Faustus kept him away from this position.
His new step was taken toward the skepticism of the Platonic Academy, but he was not convinced. There was a final encounter with Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who made the Bible understandable and taught him the meaning of faith and the grace of God. Augustine judged the eloquence of Ambrose as a professional.
One day, amid a crisis of sadness and anxiety, pessimism and regret, he heard a voice that commanded: “Tolle, lege” (take and read). Augustine randomly opened the New Testament and found a page from Paul that alludes to the life of Christ against the disorders of the flesh. Then he felt full of light and fully Christian. His life was devoted entirely to the study and practice of the Christian religion. He was baptized by Saint Ambrose. When his mother died, he returned to Carthage. Two years later, Adeodatus died. He was ordained a priest at Hippo and shortly afterward Bishop of that city. Since then, his pastoral and intellectual activity was remarkable until his death in August 430.
His first book, The Confessions, perhaps the most widely read autobiography, tells us, with insurmountable psychological introspection, the history of the first thirty years of his life. His masterpiece, much later, is De Civitate Dei (City of God). This is the first philosophy of history, a reflection of a privileged spectator of the fall of the Roman Empire.