St Thomas Aquinas, Class III

 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)

 

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.