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Thomas d'Aquin né vers 1224/1225 au château de Roccasecca près d'Aquino, dans la partie péninsulaire du Royaume de Sicile , mort le 7 mars 1274 à l'abbaye de Fossanova près de Priverno est un religieux de l'ordre dominicain, célèbre pour son œuvre théologique et philosophique. Considéré comme l'un des principaux maîtres de la philosophie scolastique et de la théologie catholique, il a été canonisé le 18 juillet 1323 par Jean XXII, puis proclamé docteur de l'Église par Pie V, en 1567 et patron des universités, écoles et académies catholiques, par Léon XIII en 1880. Il est également un des patrons des libraires. Il est aussi qualifié du titre de « Docteur angélique ». Son corps est conservé sous le maître-autel de l'église de l'ancien couvent des dominicains de Toulouse.

De son nom dérivent les termes :



« thomisme » / « thomiste » : concerne l'école ou le courant philosophico-théologique qui se réclame de Thomas d'Aquin et en développe les principes au-delà de la lettre de son expression historique initiale ;

« néothomisme » : courant de pensée philosophico-théologique de type thomiste, développé à partir du XIXe siècle pour répondre aux objections posées au christianisme catholique par la modernité ;

« thomasien » : ce qui relève de la pensée de Thomas d'Aquin lui-même, indépendamment des développements historiques induits par sa réception.En 1879, le pape Léon XIII, dans l'encyclique Æterni Patris, a déclaré que les écrits de Thomas d'Aquin exprimaient adéquatement la doctrine de l'Église. Le concile Vatican II propose l'interprétation authentique de l'enseignement des papes sur le thomisme en demandant que la formation théologique des prêtres se fasse « avec Thomas d'Aquin pour maître ».

Thomas d'Aquin a proposé, au XIIIe siècle, une œuvre théologique qui repose, par certains aspects, sur un essai de synthèse de la raison et de la foi, notamment lorsqu'il tente de concilier la pensée chrétienne et la philosophie d'Aristote, redécouvert par les scolastiques à la suite des traductions latines du XIIe siècle. Il distingue les vérités accessibles à la seule raison, de celles de la foi, définies comme une adhésion inconditionnelle à la Parole de Dieu. Il qualifie la philosophie de servante de la théologie afin d'exprimer comment les deux disciplines collaborent de manière « subalternée » à la recherche de la connaissance de la vérité, chemin vers la béatitude. Wikipedia  

✵ 25. janvier 1225 – 7. mars 1274   •   Autres noms Sv. Tomáš Akvinský, San Tommaso d'Aquino
Thomas d'Aquin photo
Thomas d'Aquin: 108   citations 0   J'aime

Thomas d'Aquin citations célèbres

“Or chaque homme, par sa nature même, possède innée en lui la lumière de la raison qui dirige ses actes vers sa fin. Et s'il convenait à l'homme de vivre solitaire, comme il en va pour beaucoup d'animaux, cette lumière lui suffirait pour l'orienter vers sa fin; chacun serait à soi-même son roi, sous le règne suprême de Dieu, en tant que, par le don divin de la raison, il se dirigerait soi-même dans ses actes. Mais la nature de l'homme veut qu'il soit un animal social et politique, vivant en collectivité.”

Thomas d'Aquin

Du gouvernement royal

“En effet, il est plus beau d’éclairer que de briller seulement; de même est-il plus beau de transmettre aux autres ce qu’on a contemplé que de contempler seulement..”

Thomas d'Aquin

De l'enseignement

“Je vous reçois, ô salut de mon âme. C'est par amour de vous que j'ai étudié, veillé des nuits entières et que je me suis épuisé; c'est vous que j'ai prêché et enseigné. Jamais je n'ai dit un mot contre Vous. Je ne m'attache pas non plus obstinément à mon propre sens; mais si jamais je me suis mal exprimé sur ce sacrement, je me soumets au jugement de la sainte Église romaine dans l'obéissance de laquelle je meurs.”

Thomas d'Aquin

Ses derniers mots

Thomas d'Aquin: Citations en anglais

“Beauty adds to goodness a relation to the cognitive faculty: so that "good" means that which simply pleases the appetite; while the "beautiful" is something pleasant to apprehend.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

I–II, q. 27, art. 1, 3
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“For creation is not a change, but that dependence of the created existence on the principle from which it is instituted, and thus is of the genus of relation; whence nothing prohibits it being in the created as in the subject. Creation is thus said to be a kind of change, according to the way of understanding, insofar as our intellect accepts one and the same thing as not existing before and afterwards existing.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Summa Contra Gentiles II, 18.2 (see also Summa Theologica I, q. 45, art. 3 ad 2)

“Man cannot live without joy. That is why one deprived of spiritual joys goes over to carnal pleasures.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

II–II, q. 35, art. 4, ad. 2
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“If forgers and malefactors are put to death by the secular power, there is much more reason for excommunicating and even putting to death one convicted of heresy.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica (1265–1274), Unplaced by chapter

“To scorn the dictate of reason is to scorn the commandment of God.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

Source: Summa Theologica (1265–1274) I-II, q. 19, art. 5

“With regard to the abuse of authority, this also may come about in two ways. First, when what is ordered by an authority is opposed to the object for which that authority was constituted (if, for example, some sinful action is commanded or one which is contrary to virtue, when it is precisely for the protection and fostering of virtue that authority is instituted). In such a case, not only is there no obligation to obey the authority, but one is obliged to disobey it, as did the holy martyrs who suffered death rather than obey the impious commands of tyrants. Secondly, when those who bear such authority command things which exceed the competence of such authority; as, for example, when a master demands payment from a servant which the latter is not bound to make, and other similar cases. In this instance the subject is free to obey or disobey.”

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Thomas Aquinas

in Aquinas: Selected Political Writings (Basil Blackwell: 1974), p. 183
Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard

“The order of authority derives from God, as the Apostle says [ in Romans 13:1-7]. For this reason, the duty of obedience is, for the Christian, a consequence of this derivation of authority from God, and ceases when that ceases. But, as we have already said, authority may fail to derive from God for two reasons: either because of the way in which authority has been obtained, or in consequence of the use which is made of it. There are two ways in which the first may occur. Either because of a defect in the person, if he is unworthy; or because of some defect in the way itself by which power was acquired, if, for example, through violence, or simony or some other illegal method.”

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Thomas Aquinas

in Aquinas: Selected Political Writings (Basil Blackwell: 1974), p. 183
Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard

“All admit that indulgences have some value; for it would be blasphemy to say that the Church does anything in vain.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica (1265–1274), Unplaced by chapter

“It must be said that charity can, in no way, exist along with mortal sin.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Quaestiones disputatae: De caritate (ca. 1270) http://dhspriory.org/thomas/QDdeVirtutibus2.htm#6

“Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory,
Of His Flesh the mystery sing;
Of the Blood, all price exceeding,
Shed by our immortal King.”
Pange, lingua, gloriosi Corporis mysterium Sanguinisque pretiosi, Quem in mundi pretium Fructus ventris generosi Rex effudit gentium.

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Thomas Aquinas

Pange, Lingua (hymn for Vespers on the Feast of Corpus Christi), stanza 1

“Law: an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica (1265–1274), Unplaced by chapter

“Whether God can make the past not to have been?
Objection 1: It seems that God can make the past not to have been. For what is impossible in itself is much more impossible than that which is only impossible accidentally. But God can do what is impossible in itself, as to give sight to the blind, or to raise the dead. Therefore, and much more can He do what is only impossible accidentally. Now for the past not to have been is impossible accidentally: thus for Socrates not to be running is accidentally impossible, from the fact that his running is a thing of the past. Therefore God can make the past not to have been.
Objection 2: Further, what God could do, He can do now, since His power is not lessened. But God could have effected, before Socrates ran, that he should not run. Therefore, when he has run, God could effect that he did not run.
Objection 3: Further, charity is a more excellent virtue than virginity. But God can supply charity that is lost; therefore also lost virginity. Therefore He can so effect that what was corrupt should not have been corrupt. On the contrary, Jerome says (Ep. 22 ad Eustoch.): "Although God can do all things, He cannot make a thing that is corrupt not to have been corrupted." Therefore, for the same reason, He cannot effect that anything else which is past should not have been.
I answer that, As was said above (Q[7], A[2]), there does not fall under the scope of God's omnipotence anything that implies a contradiction. Now that the past should not have been implies a contradiction. For as it implies a contradiction to say that Socrates is sitting, and is not sitting, so does it to say that he sat, and did not sit. But to say that he did sit is to say that it happened in the past. To say that he did not sit, is to say that it did not happen. Whence, that the past should not have been, does not come under the scope of divine power. This is what Augustine means when he says (Contra Faust. xxix, 5): "Whosoever says, If God is almighty, let Him make what is done as if it were not done, does not see that this is to say: If God is almighty let Him effect that what is true, by the very fact that it is true, be false": and the Philosopher says (Ethic. vi, 2): "Of this one thing alone is God deprived---namely, to make undone the things that have been done."
Reply to Objection 1: Although it is impossible accidentally for the past not to have been, if one considers the past thing itself, as, for instance, the running of Socrates; nevertheless, if the past thing is considered as past, that it should not have been is impossible, not only in itself, but absolutely since it implies a contradiction. Thus, it is more impossible than the raising of the dead; in which there is nothing contradictory, because this is reckoned impossible in reference to some power, that is to say, some natural power; for such impossible things do come beneath the scope of divine power.
Reply to Objection 2: As God, in accordance with the perfection of the divine power, can do all things, and yet some things are not subject to His power, because they fall short of being possible; so, also, if we regard the immutability of the divine power, whatever God could do, He can do now. Some things, however, at one time were in the nature of possibility, whilst they were yet to be done, which now fall short of the nature of possibility, when they have been done. So is God said not to be able to do them, because they themselves cannot be done.
Reply to Objection 3: God can remove all corruption of the mind and body from a woman who has fallen; but the fact that she had been corrupt cannot be removed from her; as also is it impossible that the fact of having sinned or having lost charity thereby can be removed from the sinner.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica Question 25 Article 6 http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.FP_Q25_A4.html
Summa Theologica (1265–1274), Unplaced by chapter

“Whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another. If that by which it is put in motion be itself put in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover; seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are put in motion by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is put in motion by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

I, q. 2, art. 3
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“We can open our hearts to God, but only with Divine help.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Quaestiones de veritate disputatae q 24, art. 15, ad 2

“The fire of hell is called eternal, only because it never ends. Still, there is change in the pains of the lost…Hence in hell true eternity does not exist, but rather time.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

I, q. 10, art. 3, ad 2
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“God is the most noble of beings. Now it is impossible for a body to be the most noble of beings; for a body must be either animate or inanimate; and an animate body is manifestly nobler than any inanimate body. But an animate body is not animate precisely as body; otherwise all bodies would be animate. Therefore its animation depends upon some other thing, as our body depends for its animation on the soul. Hence that by which a body becomes animated must be nobler than the body. Therefore it is impossible that God should be a body.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

I, q. 3
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“Muhammad seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth. On the contrary, Muhammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants. What is more, no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning, Those who believed in him were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Muhammad forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms. Nor do divine pronouncements on the part of preceding prophets offer him any witness. On the contrary, he perverts almost all the testimonies of the Old and New Testaments by making them into fabrications of his own, as can be seen by anyone who examines his law. It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity. It is thus clear that those who place any faith in his words believe foolishly.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 6.4 (trans. Anton C. Pegis)

“Not everyone who is enlightened by an angel knows that he is enlightened by him.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

I, q. 111, art. 1, ad 3
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“Concerning perfect blessedness which consists in a vision of God.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica (1265–1274), Unplaced by chapter

“One who liberates his country by killing a tyrant is to be praised and rewarded.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Trans. J.G. Dawson (Oxford, 1959), 44, 2 in O’Donovan, pp. 329-30
Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard

“Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Pange, Lingua, stanza 5 (Tantum Ergo)

“It was necessary for our salvation that there be a knowledge revealed by God, besides philosophical science built up by human reason. Firstly, indeed, because the human being is directed to God, as to an end that surpasses the grasp of his reason. "The eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for Thee" (Isaiah 64:4). But the end must first be known by men who are to direct their thoughts and actions to the end. Hence it was necessary for the salvation of man that certain truths which exceed human reason should be made known to him by divine revelation.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

Part I, Question 1, Article 1; tr. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (1920, New York: Benziger Bros.)
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“O saving Victim, opening wide
The gate of heaven to man below,
Our foes press on from every side,
Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Verbum Supernum Prodiens (hymn for Lauds on Corpus Christi), stanza 5 (O Salutaris Hostia)

“The image of God always abides in the soul, whether this image be obsolete and clouded over as to amount to almost nothing; or whether it be obscured or disfigured, as is the case with sinners; or whether it be clear and beautiful as is the case with the just.”

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Thomas Aquinas livre Summa Theologica

I, q. 93, art. 8, ad 3
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“If man of himself could in a perfect manner know all things visible and invisible, it would indeed be foolish to believe what he does not see. But our manner of knowing is so weak that no philosopher could perfectly investigate the nature of even one little fly.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Sermon on the Apostles' Creed (1273), prologue (trans. Joseph B. Collins)

“The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A being that is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.”

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Thomas Aquinas

Variant translation: Now slavery has a certain likeness to death, hence it is also called civil death. For life is most evident in a thing's moving itself, while what can only be moved by another, seems to be as if dead. But it is manifest that a slave is not moved by himself, but only at his master's command.
Chapter 14 https://www.pathsoflove.com/aquinas/perfection-of-the-spiritual-life.html#chapter14
On The Perfection of the Spiritual Life https://www.pathsoflove.com/aquinas/perfection-of-the-spiritual-life.html (1269-1270)
Original: (la) Vita enim in hoc maxime manifestatur quod aliquid movet se ipsum; quod autem non potest moveri nisi ab alio, quasi mortuum esse videtur.

“The Jews should not be allowed to keep what they have obtained from others by usury; it were best that they were compelled to worked so that they could earn their living instead of doing nothing but becoming avaricious.”

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Thomas Aquinas

On the Governance of the Jews.

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