The feast of St Thomas was reduced to a commemoration in Lent under the 1962 rubrics, which meant it was very rarely celebrated.
However, the decree Cum Sanctissima now allows it to be celebrated as a Class III feast, so herewith the reading for it:
St Thomas Aquinas (March 7)
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Lectio 3: Thomas Aquínas, nobílibus paréntibus natus, iam aduléscens, invítis matre
et frátribus, órdinem Prædicatórum suscépit et Lutétiam Parisiórum missus
est. Verum fratres, in itínere eum aggréssi, in arcem castri sancti Ioánnis
perdúcunt, ubi angélicus iúvenis mulíerem, quæ ad labefactándam eíus
castitátem introdúcta fúerat, titióne fugávit. Parísiis philosophíæ ac
theologíæ ita óperam dedit, ut vix vigínti quinque annos natus, públice philósophos
ac theólogos summa cum laude interpretátus sit. Numquam se lectíoni aut
scriptióni dedit, nisi post oratiónem. Cum aliquándo hanc Iesu crucifixi
vocem audísset: Bene scripsísti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercédem accípies?
amantíssime respóndit: Non áliam, Dómine, nisi teípsum. Nullum fuit
scriptórum genus, in quo non esset diligentíssime versátus. Ab Urbáno quarto
Romam vocátus, eius iussu lucubrávit Officium pro solemnitáte Córporis
Christi. Missus a beáto Gregório décimo ad concílium Lugdunénse, in
monastério Fossæ Novæ in morbum íncidit, et ibi ægrótus Cántica canticórum
explanávit. Ibídem óbiit quinquagenárius, anno millésimo ducentésimo
septuagésimo quarto, Nonis Mártii. Ipsum Leo décimus tértius cæléstem
patrónum scholárum ómnium catholicárum declarávit et instítuit. V. Tu autem, Dómine,
miserére nobis. R. Deo grátias. |
Reading 3: Thomas Aquinas, born of noble parents,
entered the Order of Preachers while he was still quite young, against the
will of his mother and brothers, He was sent to Paris; but his brothers
waylaid him on the journey and abducted him to the castle of San Giovanni.
There the angelic youth put to flight with a firebrand a woman who had been
brought in to cause him to lose his chastity. At Paris, he devoted himself to
the study of philosophy and theology with such success that, when he was
scarcely twenty-five years old, he gained the highest praise for his public
commentaries on the works of the philosophers and the theologians. He never
started to read or write without first having prayed. Once he heard: these
words from Jesus crucified: “You have written well about Me, Thomas. What
reward would you like to receive?" And he lovingly answered, "None
but Yourself, Lord." There was no kind of writing in which he was not
thoroughly versed. Summoned to Rome by Urban IV, at his command he composed
the Office for the feast of Corpus Christi. On his way to the Council of
Lyons, to which he had been sent by St. Gregory X, he was taken ill at the
monastery of Fossa Nuova and, as he lay sick, he interpreted the Canticle of
Canticles. He died there at the age of fifty years, on March 7, 1274. Leo
XIII proclaimed and appointed him the heavenly patron of all Catholic
schools. V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. R. Thanks be to God. |
