Bibliographical Note. A critical biography of Aquinas has not yet appeared. D. Prümmer began in 1911 to publish the sources, when he edited the hitherto unprinted biography by Peter Calo who wrote about 1300: Fontes Vitae S. Thomae Aquinatis notis historicis et criticis illustrati, Fasc. I, Toulouse, 1911. Peter Calo seems to have admitted a great deal of legendary material. D. J. Kennedy’s “Thomas Aquinas” in CE profits by this publication and contains perhaps as good a brief sketch of Aquinas’ career as there is in English. It also has a good bibliography. It is, however, at variance on some points with Thomas of Cantimpré’s statements, as I have indicated in the text.
On the bibliography of Aquinas’ own works one may consult: C. U. J. Chevalier, Catalogue critique des œuvres de Saint Thomas d’Aquin, 1887; A. Miola, Codices MSS operum S. Thomae de Aquino et S. Bonaventurae in Regia Neapolitana Bibliotheca, 1874; P. Mandonnet, Des Écrits Authentiques de S. Thomas d’Aquin, Fribourg, 1910. Latest and fullest, but still leaving much to be desired despite its 252 pages, is A. Michelitsch, Thomasschriften, 1913, vol. I; which gives the sources for Aquinas’ biography but too briefly with arbitrary omissions, the bare numbers of MSS containing his works without indication of their date or contents, the old lists of his writings, and a full analysis of the printed editions. Fossi (1793-1795) II, 663-98, lists such of Aquinas’ works printed before 1500 as are in the Magliabechian library at Florence.
Since the edition of the works of Aquinas begun by order of Pope Leo XIII at Rome, 1886-1906, has never been completed, the most useful edition and that which I have employed remains that by E. Fretté and P. Maré, Opera omnia, Paris, 1871-1880, in 34 volumes.
I have not been much impressed by the worth of such secondary works on Aquinas and his science as I have happened upon: for some bibliography see Paetow (1917), pp. 406, 408-9. Paetow does not mention A. Farges, Études philosophiques pour vulgariser les théories d’Aristote et de S. Thomas et montrer leur accord avec les sciences, 1909; A. Fisichella, S. Tommaso d’Aquino, Leone XIII e la scienza, 1880; T. Gaudenzi, S. Tommaso d’Aquino e la scienza. 1874; Frohschammer, Die Philosophie des Thomas von Aquino, Leipzig, 1889; nor G. M. Cornoldi (1822-1892), The Physical System of St. Thomas, English translation by E. H. Dering, London, 1893. The last is a Roman Catholic defense of the natural philosophy of Aquinas against modern science, which obscures the facts that Thomas held fast to the theory of four elements and derived his natural philosophy from Aristotle. Overworked as the words “camouflage” and “propaganda” are, one is tempted to apply them in the case of recent Aquinas literature. At the same time it is remarkable how few libraries have a complete and unexpurgated edition of his works. I have not seen F. Tessen-Wesierski, Die Grundlagen des Wunderbegriffes nach Thomas von Aquino, 1899, in Jahrb. f. Philos, u. Spekulative Theologie.
The relation of Aquinas to Dante has been the theme of more than one work; an example is N. Busetto, Saggi di varia Psicologia Dantesca contribute allo studio delle relazioni di Dante con Alberto Magno e con San Tommaso, 1905.
Precociousness of Aquinas.
Thomas Aquinas was perhaps not so precocious a genius as some of his fellow-countrymen who were artists during the Italian Renaissance. But if he did not die quite as young as Masaccio or Raphael, he nevertheless produced a vast amount of learned writing within a comparatively short time. Whether we believe that he was born in 1225 or 1227, he was not yet fifty when he died on the seventh of March, 1274. Ptolemy of Lucca, who states that he had often heard Aquinas’ confession and had attended his lectures and been his friend for a long time,[1969] says that Thomas became a Dominican at sixteen and “lived in pure innocence” for about thirty-two years thereafter.[1970] A passage in the Compendium studii philosophiae of Roger Bacon sneers at the theological teaching of “the boys of the two Orders,” such as Albert and Thomas and the others who enter the Orders when twenty years or under.[1971] Perhaps the names of Albert and Thomas were not in the passage as originally penned by Bacon; Albert at least had probably come of age before the friar orders started, and Bacon would scarcely look back upon a man who was his senior as a boy. But the fact remains that Thomas at least became a Dominican at an early age.
Early life according to Thomas of Cantimpré.
Thomas of Cantimpré tells[1972] how Aquinas entered the Dominican order at Bologna against the wishes of his family—he was the son of the count of Aquino and the countess of Teano—who secured a summons to the papal court where he was ordered to put off the friar’s dress and be invested with ecclesiastical office. When he refused, his two brothers secretly seized him and shut him up in prison where he suffered from want, cold, and poverty, and further from women whom his brothers introduced to tempt him. He remained thus imprisoned “for two or three years” according to Thomas of Cantimpré, until master John of the Dominicans complained to the emperor Frederick II who secured Aquinas’ release and would, according to Thomas of Cantimpré, have put his brothers to death for their inhumanity but for master John’s further intervention. Master John then shipped Aquinas off to Paris, but his brothers and friends at the papal court had him again summoned thither, and he was offered the post of abbot of Monte Cassino “under whom are seven bishops and who himself exercises the pontifical office.” The pope was ready to allow him to continue to wear the Dominican costume in this position, but Aquinas fled a second time from the papal court and came to Cologne and studied there until Albert was transferred to Paris and given the chair of theology there for his incomparable learning. “After whom,” continues Cantimpré, “also this same brother Thomas gained a position and chair of similar importance.” The meaning of this last sentence is somewhat doubtful. Is “after” used in the sense of time or of precedence in dignity? Did Aquinas hold a position at the same time with and second only to Albert, or did he obtain the chair only after Albert had ceased to hold it? Chronological considerations make the latter more probable. But was the chair in question at Cologne or at Paris?
Is Thomas of Cantimpré’s account reliable?