The “Dumb Ox” Becomes One of the Church’s Greatest Thinkers

Of the medieval church’s many intellectual leaders, none has had more influence than the philosophical theologian Thomas Aquinas. He was born to a noble family near Naples, Italy, and joined the Dominican Order of Preachers as a teenager. At the time, the Dominicans were a new monastic movement that lacked prestige and social standing. 

The Dominicans required their members to renounce personal wealth as part of their mission to renew sound doctrine and holy life within the church. Thomas’s family was appalled that their…