The Lives of the Saints, Volume 03 (of 16): MarchBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
The Lives of the Saints, Volume 03 (of 16): March
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Christian saints
About this time he was one day walking in the cloister of the convent
at Bologna, plunged in deep meditation, when a lay brother, who did
not know him, came up to him and said that he was obliged to go out on
some matters of business, and that the superior had given him leave to
take with him the first religious he met. S. Thomas, without excusing
himself on the score of lameness from which he was then suffering, or
of more serious engagements, went cheerfully with the lay brother;
but the latter walked so fast, that Thomas was often left behind. But
he was soon recognised, and the escort of citizens who respectfully
followed the saint, opened the eyes of the lay brother. When they
returned to the convent, the lay brother threw himself at the feet
of Thomas and begged his pardon. Thomas raised him from the ground,
saying, "It is not your duty, but mine to make an apology; for I ought
to have remembered that my sore leg would not let me walk as fast as
you wanted."
In 1269, Thomas was summoned to Paris, as "definitor" of the Roman
province, to attend the general chapter of his order. S. Thomas
prolonged his last sojourn in Paris for a year after the departure of
S. Louis on his ill-fated crusade, in 1270, and during the whole time
he continued to lecture, and to write his Summa.
S. Thomas was recalled to Bologna by his superiors early in 1271.
Shortly after his return thither, he brought the second part of his
Summa to a conclusion.
At the beginning of the year 1272, the chapter general of the order
received requests from nearly all the universities of Europe that S.
Thomas might lecture in them. The decision was in favour of Naples,
for which he started at once. He visited Rome on his way, and there he
began the last part of the Summa, and wrote his commentaries on several
books of Boetius. Whilst he was explaining that book which treats of
the Trinity, the candle which he held to light him, burnt down between
his fingers, and scorched them severely, before his attention was
aroused from his work.
After leaving Rome, Thomas and his inseparable friend Rainald were
entertained at the villa of Cardinal Richard, where the two Rabbis
were converted. Here Thomas fell ill, but the attack was slight, and
quickly passed away.
In spite of all the precautions of Christian humility, his entry into
Naples was a triumph. All classes, the lettered and the unlettered, the
great and the small, hurried to welcome him. An excited yet respectful
crowd accompanied him as far as the gates of that Dominican convent,
where he had embraced religion. What would Theodora have said if she
had seen her son entering in triumph that same house which she had
regarded as the tomb of his glory?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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