January 28 | Saint Thomas Aquinas

Welcome, young history buffs and curious minds, to My Daily Saint, the podcast that digs deep into the incredible lives of the saints, those remarkable people who shaped history and continue to inspire us today. Forget dusty old portraits and boring stories. Today, imagine that you are 19 years old. But you aren't hanging out with your friends or studying at a university. You are locked in a room in your own family's castle. You've been kidnapped. And the kidnappers? They are your own parents and brothers.

You've been stuck there for a year. Your family is desperate to break your will. They've tried everything to get you to change your mind about your future. And then, one night, your brothers decide to play a cruel trick. They open the door and shove a woman into your room. They paid a prostitute to seduce you, hoping that if you break your promise to God, you'll give up on your dreams.

You turn to the fireplace. You grab a burning log, a torch right out of the fire. You don't attack her, but you chase her around the room, waving that flaming wood until she screams to be let out. Today, we're looking at the absolutely wild life of St. Thomas Aquinas.

He is known as a doctor of the church and is one of the most brilliant minds in history. Born into a noble family in Sicily in 1225, Thomas had everything set up for him. His parents had a specific dream. They wanted him to become the abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Monte Casto. In those days, that was a powerful, wealthy position.

But while studying at the University of Maples, Thomas met the Dominicans, the Order of Preachers. The Dominicans were different. They lived lives of poverty. When Thomas joined them at age 19, his family was horrified. They weren't mad about him being religious. They were mad that he joined a group that was so poor. That's when the kidnapping happened. They held him for a year, but even while locked up, Thomas didn't sulk. He spent that time memorizing scripture.

Eventually, after the incident with the torch, his family gave up. They realized they couldn't break him, and they finally let him go. You'd think after surviving a kidnapping, things would get easier. Thomas traveled to Cologne to study under the famous St. Albert the Great, but here he faced a new problem, bullying. Thomas was a very large man. He was also incredibly quiet and timid in class, while all the other students were loud and outspoken.

Because he was big and didn't talk much, his classmates assumed he wasn't smart. They gave him a mean nickname, the Dumb Ox. Can you imagine? The guy who memorized the Bible while being held hostage is being called dumb just because he's quiet. But he didn't let it stop him. He excelled in his study so much that he proved them all wrong. In fact, he became a professor at the University of Paris and an advisor to kings, like King St. Louis IX.

Thomas wrote a massive amount of work defending Catholic theology. His most famous work is called the Summa Theologiae. He is usually pictured holding a book and a quill because he wrote so much. Now, despite being a genius, Thomas had a very human fear. When he was young, one of his sisters was killed by lightning.

Ever since that night, Thomas was terrified of thunderstorms. Whenever a storm rolled in, he would go sit in a church until it passed. Because of this, St. Thomas Aquinas does the patron saint of thunderstorms and sudden death. The end of Thomas' life is just as fascinating as the beginning. He was a man of deep prayer. It's recorded that he had mystical visions of Jesus talking to him, and once, he even levitated while praying. But the most shocking moment came one December.

Thomas was celebrating Mass when he had a sudden revelation. He stopped writing his famous book, the Summa. When people asked him why, he said, I cannot go on. All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me. Think about that. He was the smartest man of his time, yet he realized that all his genius was like straw compared to the reality of God. He died three months later.

Thomas was called a dumb ox by his own classmates because he was quiet and looked different. He could have believed them. He could have stayed quiet and never written the books that changed the world. But he knew who he was. This week, if you feel misunderstood, or if someone puts a label on you that isn't true, remember St. Thomas. Focus on your work, focus on prayer, and let your actions prove them wrong. But maybe leave the burning torches in the fireplace. Thank you for joining us on My Daily Saint. We look forward to sharing another incredible story of faith and courage with you tomorrow.