Thomas Aquinas

1225–1274 · Italian (Roccasecca, Kingdom of Sicily) · High Middle Ages

Known for: Merged Aristotle with Christianity so thoroughly that the Catholic Church made his philosophy official doctrine

Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican friar whose Summa Theologica — an attempt to systematically address every question in Christian theology and philosophy — is one of the longest, most comprehensive, and most influential works in Western intellectual history. He synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology so successfully that his system (Thomism) remains the official philosophical framework of the Roman Catholic Church.

His family tried to stop him from becoming a friar — his brothers kidnapped him and locked him in a tower for a year, even sending a prostitute to his room (he chased her away with a burning log). He eventually escaped and joined the Dominicans. He studied under Albertus Magnus, taught in Paris and Italy, and wrote prolifically until December 1273, when he had a mystical experience during Mass that left him unable to write. He said: 'All that I have written seems to me like straw compared to what has been revealed to me.' He died three months later.

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