He came to the altar, and placing before the tabernacle as before the Master of masters, that which he had written on the subject of the controversy, he raised his hands towards the image of Jesus crucified, and prayed in this fashion: "O Lord Jesu, Who dost verily dwell in this wonderful Sacrament, Whose works are incomprehensible marvels, I humbly beseech Thee, if what I have written about Thee is agreeable to the truth, grant that I may teach it, and persuade my brethren of it on Thy behalf; but if, on the contrary, there be anything in this writing which errs from the Catholic faith, make it impossible for me to bring it before their eyes."
Now the doctor had been followed by his habitual companion and by several other religious of our order, and they saw Jesus Christ standing on the leaves which had been written by the hand of Thomas, and saying to him, "Thou hast written worthily, my son, of the Sacrament of My Body." And the doctor's prayer still continuing, he was seen to raise himself nearly to the height of a cubit in the air.
The author who gives this account says he received it from a religious who was at S. James's with S. Thomas. The members of the University submitted to the decision, though given by a young man of only thirty-two years of age.
Louis IX. had forced our saint to enter his council chamber. Whenever an important affair was coming on for deliberation in the royal council, the king caused brother Thomas to be instructed about it over night, that he might reflect thereon in solitude, and might remember it at the Sacrifice. He was consulted by the king not so much as the man of genius, but as the man of God.
The saint, in spite of his earnest entreaties to be excused, was sometimes compelled, both by loyalty and courtesy, to appear at the royal table. For a while he would join in the general conversation, soon to be withdrawn by his inward thoughts. Once, at dinner, after a long silence, he smote the table smartly, exclaiming, "That is an overwhelming argument against the Manichæans." His superior bade him remember that he was in the king's presence. Thomas apologised for his absence of mind. But the king, smiling, requested him to dictate to one of his secretaries the argument which had engrossed his attention, that it might lose none of the force which marks the thoughts of genius at their first conception.
The Dominican Chapter, held at Valenciennes, in 1259, appointed Thomas, Albertus Magnus, and Pierre de Tarentaise as a commission to establish order and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans.
Alexander IV. died at Viterbo, on May 25th, 1261. Jacques Pantalèon, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who was at Viterbo imploring protection for the Christians of the East, was, to his surprise, raised to the pontifical throne, under the title of Urban IV. Wishing to unite into one the divided portions of east and west Christianity, he summoned S. Thomas to Rome to help him in realising his project. It was in the same year that S. Thomas came to Rome in answer to this appeal. His general gave him at once a chair of theology in the Dominican college at Rome, where he obtained the like success that had gained at Cologne and Paris. Here he wrote his literal commentary on Job, and the Catena Aurea. The chain of comments from the fathers is so perfect, the links of gold in it are so well rivetted to one another, that a biographer says that, "He speaks with all, and all speak and explain themselves by him." It was dedicated to the Pope, at whose solicitation it had been undertaken.
In the midst of the toil these works must have cost him, he did not forget the purpose for which he was summoned. All the time he was thinking out and penning his treatise, "Contra errores Græcorum." In his hands, and by the force of his irresistible logic, he showed that the ancient Greek fathers unanimously agreed with those of the Latin Church.[33]
This work was sent by the pope at once to Michael, emperor of Constantinople, as a message of peace. He had just returned to his capital, which Latin princes had held for more than half a century. The object of all his efforts was to reconstitute the power of the empire. To this task he brought an energy, a perseverance, and talents hitherto unknown among the sovereigns of that nation. He turned his eyes for help towards the pope; but it was the politician, rather than the Christian, that solicited the re-establishment of Catholic unity.
S. Thomas, at the request of an Eastern prince, wrote a treatise in refutation of the errors that were rife in that part of the world. Nothing could be more modest than the way in which he stated his purpose, nothing more grand than the way in which he worked it out.