
Though Thomas' family members were descendants of Emperors Frederick I and Henry VI, they were considered to be of lower nobility.īefore Saint Thomas Aquinas was born, a holy hermit shared a prediction with his mother, foretelling that her son would enter the Order of Friars Preachers, become a great learner and achieve unequaled sanctity.įollowing the tradition of the period, Saint Thomas Aquinas was sent to the Abbey of Monte Cassino to train among Benedictine monks when he was just 5 years old. His mother, Theodora, was countess of Teano. Thomas had eight siblings, and was the youngest child. The son of Landulph, count of Aquino, Saint Thomas Aquinas was born circa 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy, near Aquino, Terra di Lavoro, in the Kingdom of Sicily. An authority of the Roman Catholic Church and a prolific writer, Aquinas died on March 7, 1274, at the Cistercian monastery of Fossanova, near Terracina, Latium, Papal States, Italy.

(1225-1274) Who Was Saint Thomas Aquinas?Ĭombining the theological principles of faith with the philosophical principles of reason, Saint Thomas Aquinas ranked among the most influential thinkers of medieval Scholasticism.
