Thomas of Aquino (ca. 1225–1274), a philosopher and theologian, was born into an aristocratic family at Roccasecca, near Naples, Italy. He joined the Dominican order in 1245, taking a licentia docendi at Paris in 1256. He later taught at Paris, Rome, Orvieto, and Naples. Thomas died at the Cistercian abbey of Fossa Nuova on March 7 and was canonized in 1323 by Pope John XXII. The Summa contra Gentiles was completed about 1264. His longest and most influential work, the Summa Theologiae, was unfinished at the time of his death.

Ethics and Politics

Thomas was the foremost contributor to the thirteenth-century recovery of Aristotle. His achievement in ethics lies chiefly in the application of a Christianized version of Aristotle to politics and law. In most respects he departs from the Augustinian orientation of previous generations that found the present world sin-laden and disordered and its politics harsh and coercive.

Thomas accepted the...