St. Thomas Aquinas was born Thomas d'Aquino near Naples in 1225 to a noble family. His parents, Lundulph, Count of Aquino, and Theodora, Countess of Teano, were related to the Emperors Henry VI and Frederick II, and to the Kings of Aragon, Castile, and France. Known as perhaps the supreme theologian of Catholicism, Aquinas was enrolled in the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino at the age of five, where he was noted early for his diligent study and philosophical leanings. Despite his calling to a religious life, Aquinas's mother and family had him kidnapped in May of 1244 after he had become a Dominican friar the month before. They kept him for more than year to persuade him to give up his membership in the Dominican order. Aquinas would not renounce his calling, and they allowed him to return to his order in 1245. He went on to attend the University...