# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Thomas Aquinas, Confessor, Doctor
# (Mar 7) — SanctiM/03-07.txt inherits the whole day (`@Sancti/03-07`)
# with no Nocturn 2/3 override, so this saint's own vita is sourced
# from the Tridentine track exactly as for a pre-1955 saint (see
# memory vu-matins-pre1955-saints, vu-matins-sanctim-saints).
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/03-07.txt, English/Sancti/03-07.txt —
# Lectio4/5 are themselves `@:Lectio4_`/`@:Lectio5_` self-references
# (a same-file rubric-variant indirection, not a genuine split); the
# underlying `Lectio4_`/`Lectio5_`/`Lectio6` text is combined into one
# reading, one continuous vita. No responsory given in the source.
id: st-thomas-aquinas
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Præclárum christiáni orbis decus et Ecclésiæ lumen, beatíssimus vir Thomas, Landulpho
        comite Aquinate et Theodora Neapolitana, nobílibus paréntibus natus, futuræ in Deiparam
        devotiónis afféctum adhuc infantulus osténdit. Nam chártulam ab eo invéntam, in qua
        salutátio Angelica scripta erat, frustra adniténte nutrice, compressa manu valide
        retinuit, et a matre per vim abreptam, ploratu et gestu repétiit, ac mox redditam
        deglutívit. Quintum annum agens, monachis sancti Benedicti Cassinátibus custodiendus
        traditur. Inde Neapolim studiórum causa missus, jam adoléscens Fratrum Prædicatórum
        Ordinem suscépit. Sed matre ac frátribus id indigne feréntibus, Lutétiam Parisiórum
        mittitur. Quem fratres in itinere per vim raptum, in arcem castri sancti Joánnis
        perducunt: ubi varie exagitatus, ut sanctum proponsitum mutaret, mulierem etiam, quæ ad
        labefactándam ejus constantiam introducta fuerat, titióne fugávit. Mox beátus juvenis,
        flexis genibus ante signum crucis orans, ibique somno correptus, per quietem sentire
        visus est sibi ab Angelis constringi lumbos; quo ex témpore omni póstea libidinis sensu
        cáruit. Soróribus, quæ ut eum a pio consílio removerent, in castrum venerant, persuasit,
        ut, contemptis curis sæcularibus, ad exercitatiónem cæléstis vitæ se conferrent.


        Emissus e castro per fenestram, Neapolim redúcitur; unde Romam, póstea Parisium a fratre
        Joánne Theutónico, ordinis Prædicatórum generali magistro, ductus, Alberto Magno
        doctore, philosophíæ ac theologíæ operam dedit. Viginti quinque annos natus, magister est
        appellatus, publiceque philósophos ac Theólogos summa cum laude est interpretatus.
        Numquam se lectióni aut scriptióni dedit, nisi post oratiónem. In difficultátibus locórum
        sacræ Scripturæ, ad oratiónem jejunium adhibebat. Quin étiam sodali suo fratri Regínaldo
        dicere solebat, quidquid sciret non tam studio aut labóre suo peperisse, quam divínitus
        tráditum accepisse. Neapoli cum ad imáginem Crucifixi vehementius oraret, hanc vocem
        audívit: Bene scripsísti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mercedem accípies? Cui ille: Non aliam,
        Dómine, nisi teípsum.


        A summo Pontifice Urbano quarto Romam vocatus, ejus jussu ecclesiásticum lucubrávit
        Offícium in Corporis Christi solemnitate celebrándum: oblatos vero honores et
        Neapolitanum archiepiscopátum, étiam deferénte Cleménte quarto, recusávit. A
        prædicatióne divini verbi non desistebat; quod cum fáceret per octavam Paschæ in
        basilica sancti Petri, mulierem, quæ ejus fimbriam tetígerat, a fluxu sánguinis
        liberávit. Missus a beato Gregório décimo ad concílium Lugdunense, in monasterio Fossæ
        Novæ in morbum íncidit, ubi ægrotus Cantica canticórum explanávit. Ibidem obiit
        quinquagenarius, anno salútis millesimo ducentésimo septuagesimo quarto, Nonis Martii.
      en: >-
        That splendid adornment of the Christian world and light of the Church, blessed Thomas of
        Aquino, was the son of Landulph, Earl of Aquino, and Theodora of Naples, his wife, being
        nobly descended on both sides. He even as an infant gave token of the love which he
        afterwards bore to the Mother of God. He found a little bit of paper upon which was written
        the Angelic Salutation, and held it firm in his hand in spite of the efforts of his
        wet-nurse; his mother took it away by force, but he cried and stretched out for it, and
        when she gave it back to him, he swallowed it. When he was only four years old, he was
        given into the keeping of the Benedictine monks of Monte Cassino. He was thence sent to
        Naples to study, and there, while very young, entered the Order of Friars Preachers. This
        displeased his mother and brothers, and he left Naples for Paris. When he was on his
        journey his brothers met him, and carried him off by force to the castle of Monte San
        Giovanni, where they imprisoned him in the keep. Here they used every means to break him of
        his intention, and at last brought a woman into his room to try to overcome his purity. The
        lad drove her out with a fire-brand. When he was alone he knelt down before the figure of
        the Cross, and there he fell asleep. As he slept, it seemed to him that angels came and
        girded his loins, and from this time he never felt the least sexual inclination. His
        sisters came to the castle to beseech him to give up his purpose of leaving the world, but
        he so worked on them by his godly exhortations, that both of them ever after set no value
        on earthly things, and busied themselves rather with heavenly.


        Being let down from a window, Thomas escaped out of the castle of Monte San Giovanni, and
        returned to Naples. Thence he went first to Rome, and then to Paris, in company of Brother
        John the German, then Master-General of the Friars Preachers. At Paris he studied
        Philosophy and Theology under Albert the Great, Doctor. At the age of twenty-five years he
        took the degree of Master, and gave public disquisitions on the Philosophers and
        Theologians with great distinction. He never set himself to read or write till he had first
        prayed, and when he was about to take in hand a hard passage of the Holy Scriptures, he
        fasted also. Hence he was wont to say to Brother Reginald his comrade, that whatever he
        knew, he had learnt, not so much from his own labour and study, as from the inspiration of
        God. At Naples he was once kneeling in very earnest prayer before an image of Christ
        Crucified, when he heard a voice which said Thomas, thou hast written well of Me; what
        reward wilt thou that I give thee? He answered: Lord, thyself.


        The Supreme Pontiff Urban IV. sent for him to Rome, and at his command he composed the
        Church Office for the feast of Corpus Christi. The Pope could not persuade him to accept
        any dignity. Pope Clement IV. also offered him the Archbishopric of Naples, but he refused
        it. He did not neglect the preaching of the Word of God. Once while he was giving a course
        of sermons in the Basilica of St Peter, during the octave of Easter, a woman who had an
        issue of blood was healed by touching the hem of his garment. He was sent by blessed
        Gregory X. to the Council of Lyons, but fell sick on his way to the Abbey of Fossa Nuovo,
        and there during his illness he made an exposition of the Song of Songs. There he died on
        the 7th day of March, in the year of salvation 1274, aged fifty years.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
