Aquinas taught that the two origins of knowledge are revelation and reason. He said that the latter is a divine source of knowledge. He also taught that the truth must be believed, even when it cannot be fully understood.
Aquinas based his philosophy on a logical interpretation of this world, rather than academic speculation about the next. He reinterpreted Aristotle's philosophy in Christian terms.
In the year 1225, theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas was born Thomas Aquinas d'Aquino, the son of the count of Aquino, in southern Italy. At the age of five, Aquinas' parents placed him in the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino.
In 1239 Monte Cassino was a virtual battlefield between the pope and the state, so Aquinas enrolled at the University of Naples. Few institutions other than this university taught Aristotle's ideology at this time. Aquinas stayed in Naples until April of 1244. While at the university Thomas came under the influence of the Dominicans, an order of supplicant preaching friars. In spite of family opposition, he joined the Dominicans. His brothers captured and imprisoned him. Two years later, he escaped.
The Dominicans sent Thomas to Cologne to study with Albertus Magnus, the most learned man of the time.
In 1259 the pope called Thomas to Rome. He spent the rest of his life lecturing and preaching in the service of his order, chiefly in Italian cities and in Paris. He died on March 7, 1274, while traveling to a church council at Lyons.
Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest philosophers of the Christian church. He was called the angelic doctor or the Prince of Scholastics, and ranks in importance with St. Augustine. The Roman Catholic church regards Thomas Aquinas as its greatest theologian and philosopher. Pope John XXII canonized him in 1323, and Pius V declared him a doctor of the church in 1567. Leo XIII made him patron of Roman Catholic schools in 1880. His teachings grew popular, and there are now three universities named after him: Aquinas College, Aquinas Institute of Philosophy, and the Aquinas Institute of Theology.