Today is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, who is one
of the great patron saints of both Father Barron and Word on Fire Catholic
Ministries as a whole. On the blog today, read a short reflection from Thomas
Aquinas: Spiritual Master and watch Fr. Barron's video on his
theological hero.
"No account of the life and spirituality of Aquinas would be complete without a reflection on the events immediately preceding and surrounding his death. In Naples, on the feat of St. Nicholas, December 6, 1273, Thomas was, according to his custom, celebrating Mass in the presence of his friend, Reginald. Something extraordinary happened during that Mass, for afterward Thomas broke the routine that had been his for the previous twenty years. According to one source, he ‘hung up his instruments of writing,’ refusing to work, to dictate, to write. When hissocius encouraged him to continue, Thomas replied very simply that he could not. Afraid that his master had perhaps become mentally unbalanced, the younger man persisted until Thomas, with a mixture of impatience and resignation, finally replied, ‘Reginald, I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me.’
"No account of the life and spirituality of Aquinas would be complete without a reflection on the events immediately preceding and surrounding his death. In Naples, on the feat of St. Nicholas, December 6, 1273, Thomas was, according to his custom, celebrating Mass in the presence of his friend, Reginald. Something extraordinary happened during that Mass, for afterward Thomas broke the routine that had been his for the previous twenty years. According to one source, he ‘hung up his instruments of writing,’ refusing to work, to dictate, to write. When hissocius encouraged him to continue, Thomas replied very simply that he could not. Afraid that his master had perhaps become mentally unbalanced, the younger man persisted until Thomas, with a mixture of impatience and resignation, finally replied, ‘Reginald, I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me.’
To many, those are the most eloquent words that Thomas
Aquinas ever uttered. After filling tens of thousands of pages with words about
God, the great master very abruptly fell silent, convinced that everything he
had written amounted to no more than refuse, perhaps persuaded that nothing
finally can capture the strangeness and elusiveness of God. Some speculate that
Thomas might have suffered a stroke (there is indeed some evidence that he was
physically impaired after the December 6 incident) and others that he had what
amounted to a psychological breakdown (many of his symptoms are consistent with
burn-out, profound depression, or even a midlife crisis). Whatever explanation
we offer, the simple fact of his remarkable silence remains.
In January of 1274, Thomas visited his sister but was
scarcely able to speak to her. She described him as stupefactus (dazed
or out of his senses). According to some sources it was during this visit that
Thomas told Reginald that his work seemed like straw ‘compared to what had been
revealed to him.’ If this is so, then Thomas’s silence takes on a stranger and
more mystical quality.
Summoned to the Council of Lyons in early 1274, the dutiful
Aquinas set out for France but fell ill on the way. Anticipating his death,
Thomas asked to be taken to the Cistercian monastery of Fassanuova. It was
there that he died on March 7, some say after composing a commentary on the
Song of Songs.”[1]
For further reading, here is a link to Father Barron's
article entitled, America
Needs You, Thomas Aquinas.
[1] Robert Barron. Thomas
Aquinas, Spiritual Master (New York: Crossroads Publishing Company,
1996), 23-24
