Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/762

 THOMAS

696

THOMAS

As a teacher and commentator he adhered closely to the doctrines of Giles of Rome (iEgidius Romanus, or de Columna), who since 1287 had been recognized as the doctor ordinis of the Augustinians. He opposed the innovations of Henry of Ghent and the abstruse distinctions of the Scotists. For examijle, on the question of the distinction between the nature of God and the Divine attributes, he taught that there can be no formal distinction, nor any distinction of any kind except by comparison of the external effects of those i^fributes. Similarly there is, he maintained, no formal distinction between God and the Divine ideas; whatever distinction exists among the ideas themselves or between the ideas and the Divine essence is the work of the Divine intellect. In regard to the origin of the universe, he maintained that the doctrine of creation can be proved by strict demon- stration, the starting-point of the proof being the fact that the power of God, being unlimited, could not postulate a material as a necessary condition of action: just as the existence of God does not postulate any other being, so the Divine action does not postulate a material on which to act. This refers, however, to creation in general. Whether the material universe was created in time or with time, or, on the contrary, was created ab ceterno, is a question which, he believed, the human mind cannot solve without the aid of revelation.

Stockl, Gesch. rler Phil, des MiUelalters, II (Mainz, 1865). 1045 sqq.; Fabricius, Bihlioth. tat. med. et infimae tatin., V (Florence. 1858), 537 sqq. Ossinger, Bibl. augustiniana, (Ingolstadt, 1768), 71, sqq. De Wulf, tr. Coffey. Hist, ojf Med. Phit. (New York, 1909), 437, 438, has a paragraph on the ^gidian School.

William Turner.

Thomas of Villanova, Saint, educator, philan- thropist, b. at Fuentellana, Spain, 1488; d. at Valen- cia, 8 Sept., 1555. Son of Alonzo Tomas Garcia and Lucia Martinez Castellanos, the saint was brought up in the practices of religion and charity. Every Fri- day his father was wont to give in alms all the meal he earned at his mill, besides his usual daOy dole of bread. On great feast-days he added wood, wine, and money; while to poor farmers he loaned money and seed. On the death of her husband, Lucia continued the usual alms, and supplied indigent maidens in the neighbourhood with clothing and money. When sixteen years old, Thomas entered the University of Alcald,, where, after proceeding master of arts and licentiate in theology, he filled the chair (1514) of arts, logic, and philosophy. Among his auditors were the famed scholars Ferdinand de Encina and Dominic Soto. With Alcald, however, ended his university associations, he having declined the chair of natural philosophy at Salamanca, where he joined the Augus- tinians in 1516, his vows following a year later, and his ordination to priesthood the year after; his first Mass was celebrated at Christmas, 1518. At Salamanca Convent Thomas was given the class of Scholastic theology because of his attachment for books, chiefly the Lombard and St. Thomas, and his exemplary life. Preaching in the chief pulpits of Spain was soon added to his duties, among other places at Valencia, the field of his later trials, and ValladoUd, seat of the im- perial Court and residence of the Emperor Charles V when on his visits from the Low Countries. In this last-named city St. Thomas was named by the em- peror his court preacher, and one of his councillors of State. Rarely, however, did the saint pay visits of ceremony to the tlicn master of Europe, though his written correspondence with Charles, who held his opinions in high esteem, was voluminous. Towards the close of his life, wliilc at Valencia, lie had all the emperor's letters di'stmyed; liis own letters to the em- peror, however, are now stured ul .'>imaiicas.

Apart from thesis burdens Thomas held many offices of trust in his order, e. g. as convent prior in various cities, among others at Valladolid in 1544, the very

year he was called to the See of Valencia. Moreover, he was twice provincial-prior, first of Andalusia and Castile in 1527, then six years later of Castile alone, whence the first mission band of his brethren was sent across the Atlantic in 1533 to establish houses of their order in Mexico. On 5 Aug., 1544, he received his nomination to the Archbishopric of Valencia, a post that for well-nigh a hundred years had witnessed no bishop in residence, an appointment that was con- firmed by Paul III. Previously St. Thomas had de- clined the See of Granada, offered him by tiie emperor, while that of Valencia he accepted only through obe- dience to his superiors. He was consecrated in the church of his order at Valladolid by Juan, Cardinal Tavera de Pardo, Archbishop of Toledo. On his en- trance to his see on 1 Jan., 1.545, of which he was thirty-second bishop and eighth archbishop, St. Thomas opened his career as legislator and philan- thropist, which won for him the titles of " Almsgiver", "Father of the Poor", and "Model of Bishops", given him at his beatification ia 1618 by Paul V. During his eleven years of episcopal rule his most noteworthy deeds were as follows: a visitation of his diocese, opened a few weeks after entrance into his see. Among other amendments he inhibited his visitators from accepting any gifts whatever. He then held a synod, the first at Valencia for many years, whereby he sought to do away with a number of abuses, as blood- shed, divorce, concubinage, and many excessive privi- leges or unreasonable exemptions; he abohshed the underground prisons; rebuilt the general hospital at Valencia which had just been destroyed by fire; founded two colleges, one for young ecclesiastics, the other for poor students ; laboured for the conversion of the nucvos Cristianos, whose profession of Christianity was largely mere outward show; estabhshed a creche near his palace for foundlings and the offspring of indigent parents; had Mass said at early hours for the working-classes; and in brief, by statutes, by preach- ing, and by example, strove to reform the morals of churchman and layman.

Towards the poor especially his heart was ever alive with pity; to them his palace gate was always open; daily he had a repast for every poor person that ap- phed for help, as many even as four to five hundred thus getting their meals at his hands. In every district of the city he had almoners appointed with orders espe- cially to search out the respectable persons who shrank from asking alms; these he had supplied with money, food, clothing, while as to indigent workmen, poor farm- ers, and mechanics, he rejjlenished their stock and bought them tools, thus putting them in the way of making a living. His whole life was replete with acts of practical kindness. He spent his spsire time chiefly in prayer and study; his table was one of simple f:ire, with no luxuries. His dress was inexpensive; he mended with his own hands whatever needed repairs. Num- berless are the instances of St. Tliomas's super- natural gifts, of his power of healing the sick, of mul- tiplication of food, of redressing grievances, of his ecstasies, of his conversions of sinners. He was taken ill in August, 1555, of angina pectoris, of which he died at the age of 67, at the termination of Mass in his bedroom. His last words were the versicles: "In manus tuas, Domine", etc.; his remains were en- tombed at the convent Church of Our Lady of Help of his order outside the city walls, whence later they were brought to the cathedral. The saint was of well- knit frame, of medium height, with dark complexion, brilliant eyes, ruddy cheeks, and Roman nose. He was beatified by Paid V (7 Oct., 161S), who set his feast-day for 18 Sept., and canonized by Alexander VII on i Nov., 1658.

Various reasons are given to account for St. Thomas's non-appearance at the Council of Trent, among them that he was ill, unable to stand the fatigue of travel; that his people would not brook his